LIBRARY 

OK  THK 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA. 

GIKT   OK 

Mrs.  SARAH  P.  WALSWORTH. 

Received  October,  1894. 
' s  M) .  *J&  ff     Class  No. 


THE 


HI  S  T  O  H  Y 


OF    THE 


REFORMATION  IN  SWEDEN. 


BY    L.    A.    ANJOU, 
n 

COUNCILLOR    TO    THE    KING    OF   SWEDEN 


TRANSLATED     FROM     THE     SWEDISH 
BY 

HENRY  M.  MASON,  D.   D. 


SttlELDON     &     COMPANY, 

No.     115    NASSAU-STREET. 

1859. 


Entered,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1850. 

15 v  I'UDXEY  ,1-  HUSSKLL, 

In  the  ("fork's  Office,  of  the  District  Court  of  the  United  States,  for  the 
Southern  District  of  New- York. 


CONTENTS, 

BOOK  I. 

CHAPTER    I  . 

The  Swedish  Church  to  the  year  1520, p.  1 

1.  Episcopal  Sees. 

2.  Canons  and  Cathedrals. 

3.  The  Church's  Wealth  and  Outward  Power. 

4.  Cloisters. 

5.  Character  and  Moral  Condition. 

CHAPTER    II. 

The  Pardon-Monger  and  Papal  Legate,  J.  A.  Arcimbold, ....  p.  52 

CHAPTER    III. 

,  Olaus  Petri,  the  Friend  and  Pupil  of  Luther, p.  61 

CHAPTER    IV. 

First  Information  of  the  Agitations  at  Wittenberg — Laurentius 
Andrea? — Olaus  Petri  at  Strangness — King  Gustavus  I. — John  Mag 
nus  (until  and  during  the  Diet  of  Strangness  in  1523), p.  66 

CHAPTER    V. 

Laurentius  Andrese,  the  King's  Chancellor — John  Magnus  elected 
Archbishop — Transaction  at  Rome  respecting  the  Election  and  Con 
firmation  of  Bishops  till  the  year  1527, p.  87 

CHAPTER    VI. 

Assessment  of  the  Church,  till  the  year  1527, p.  104 


yijj  CONTENTS- 

CHAPTER    VII- 

Of  the  continued  Preaching  of  the  Gospel,  with  the  accompanying 
Incidents  and  Consequences,  to  the  Diet  of  Westerns  in  1527,  p.  112 

CHAPTER   VIII. 

Writings  concerning  the  Reformation,  before  the  Diet  of  Westeras 
in  1527— °The  Answer  of  Olaus  Petri  to  Paulus  Elite— The  Answer  to 
the  Twelve  Questions, !?•  169 


BOOK  II. 

CHAPTER    I. 

The  Diet  of  Westeras   in  1527 — The   Treaty   and  Ordinances   of 
Westeras, p.  192 

CHAPTER    II. 

The  Operation  of  the  Second  and  Third  Points  of  the  Treaty  of 
Westeras, p.  226 

CHAPTER    III. 

Flight  of  Bishop   Brask —Consecration    of  the    Bishops  elect — 
Writings  of  the  Reformers  during  the  year  1528 p.  239 

CHAPTER    IV. 

The  Council  of  Orcbro  in  1529— Dissatisfaction— Flight  of  Bishop 
Magnus  of  Skara, p   255 

CHAPTER    V. 

Provision  for  having  the  Gospel  preached— Church  Manual  and 
Mass-Book  in  the  Swedish  language, p.  272 

CHAPTER    VI. 

Election  of  a  Bishop— Laurentius  Petri,  Archbishop  of  Upsala— 
Fate  of  the  Church  till  1539 .p.  277 


CONTENTS.  IX 

CHAPTER    VII. 

• 

The  King's  Displeasure  with  Laurentius  Andrese  and  Olaus  Petri — 
Accusation  and  Judgment  against  these  Men — The  new  Condition  of 
the  Church  under  Peutinger  and  Norman — Visitations  of  the  Churches 
— Plundering  of  Churches — Dissatisfaction, p.  292 

CHAPTER    VIII. 

Translation  of  the  Bible  into  Swedish  in  1541 — Progress  of  the 
Reformation — Ordinantia  of  Westeras  in  1544 — Changes  in  Condition 
of  Bishops,  Chapters,  and  Parish  Priests,  (till  King  John  III.'s  Ac 
cession  to  the  Throne  in  1568), p.  308 

CHAPTER    IX. 

The  Reformation  in  Denmark  and  Norway — The  Position  of  the 
Swedish  Church  in  respect  to  the  Foreign  Protestant  Churches,  p.  328 

CHAPTER    X. 

The  last  Work  in  which  Olaus  Petri  was  engaged — His  Death — 
Laurentius  Petri  against  the  King,  and  against  the  Calvinists,  p.  348 

CHAPTER    XI. 

The  Kings  Gusta^vus  I.  and  Erik  XIV. — Commencement  of  King 
John  III.'s  Reign — Ecclesiastical  Law— Council  of  Upsala  in  1572 — 
Day  and  Year  of  the  Death  of  Archbishop  Laurentius  Petri,.  .p.  368 


BOOK  III. 

CHAPTER    I. 

The  Swedish  Church  to  the  year  1573, p.  386 

1.  Church  Government,  Bishops  and  Priests. 

2.  Schools  and  Scientifi-  Culture. 

3.  Divine  Service,  Morals,  Purifying  of  the  People's  Faith. 


x  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER    II. 

Transactions  m  the  Church  in  Europe,  before  1573  — Bishops  and 
other  important  Men  in  the  Church  at  this  Period — King  John  and 
the  Royal  Ilouse— First  Attempts  of  the  Roman  Church  to  form  new 
Engagements  with  Sweden P-  429 

CHAPTER    III. 

The  Church  Council  at  Stockholm  in  15C4 — Election  of  an  Arch 
bishop — Church  Ordinance  of  1575 — The  Consecration  of  Bishops  in 
1575 p.  451 

CHAPTER    IV. 
The  Liturgy < , p.  476 

CHAPTER    V. 

Rome's  Attempt  to  recover  the  Swedish  Church,  from  the  year 
1574  to  1580,  p.  501 

CHAPTER    VI. 

The  complete  Breach  between  the  Liturgic,  Lutheran,  and  Roman 
Catholic  Parties  (until  the  Death,  in  1585,  of  Bishop  Nils  X)lai,  of 
Striingucss). . .  p>  533 

CHAPTER    VII. 

Dispute   concerning  the  Election   of  a   Bishop  for  Striingness 

Election  of  Sigismund  as  King  of  Poland— Declaration  of  the  Clergy 
in  Charles'  Duchy  against  the  Liturgy— Commencement  of  its  Down 
fall  (until  King  John's  death  in  1592) p.  509 

CHAPTER    VIII. 
Council  of  Upsala 


APPENDICES. 

The  Conversion  of  the  Swedes  to  Christianity— Letter  from  A    G 

Knds,  Doctor  and  Professor  of  Theology  in  the  University  of  Upsala 

ation,  made   in  Sweden,   of  a   Royal   Rescript,  relative  to 

Candidates   for   Confirmation— Contents   of  the   Book    of 

mmon   Prayer  of  the  Swedish  Church-Outline  of  the   Swedish 

Church  Constitution,. . 

p.  631 


THE  HISTORY 


OF    THE 


ECCLESIASTICAL  REFOKMATION 

IN   SWEDEN. 


CHAPTER    I. 

THE     SWEDISH    CHURCH    TO    THE     YEAR    1520. 

1.  — EPISCOPAL    SEES. 

THE  first  stream  of  the  light  of  Christianity,  as  far  as  we 
can  discern,  falls  over  our  fatherland  at  the  same  time  in 
which  our  history  advances  into  day.  That  Ansgarius,  who 
came  from  the  monastery  of  Corbcy,  in  France,  here  preached 
the  Gospel  in  the  year  829,  is  the  first  incident  that  occurs 
in  the  annals  of  Sweden,  with  full  historic  certainty.  But 
if  this  is  beyond  all  doubt,  we  are  still  in  doubt  in  what  part 
of  our  fatherland  he  made  his  appearance ;  and  with  this 
rising  of  the  sun  it  is  still  wrapped  in  the  mist  of  morning  what 
people  heard  of  him  the  word  of  life.  For  nearly  six-and- 
thirty  years  after  his  first  coming,  venerable  missionaries 
watched  and  worked  over  the  tender  plant.  Some  time 
after  his  first  visit,  he  returned,  in  his  old  age,  to  keep  it 
alive,  since,  of  the  teachers  he  meanwhile  sent  to  Sweden,  at 
least  one  had  already  become  a  blood-witness  for  the  new 

1 


2  HISTORY    OF   THE   ECCLESIASTICAL 

faith  ;  as  archbishop  of  Hamburgh,  and  afterward  of  Bre 
men,  he  had  charged  himself  with  the   conversion  of  the 

North. 

The  erection  of  the  archbishopric  of  Hamburgh,  in  834, 
its  confirmation  by  the  pope  in  835,  and  the  union  of  the 
see  with  Bremen,  in  858,  had  for  their  object  the  Christian 
izing  of  the  North.  The  archbishop  of  Bremen  had  this 
mission  under  his  care,  until  its  primacy  over  the  Swedish 
church  was  transferred  from  Bremen  to  the  archbishopric 
of  Lund,  created  in  the  year  1103.  At  length  the  arch 
bishop  of  Upsal  and  the  Swedish  church  publicly  refused  to 
acknowledge  the  bishop  of  Lund  as  their  primate ;  and  the 
Swedish  ecclesiastical  provinces,  through  their  own  arch 
bishop,  stood  in  immediate  connection  with  the  Koman 
chair. 

For  more  than  three  hundred  years  after  the  first  efforts 
of  Ansgarius  for  the  conversion  of  the  Swedes,  and  for  more 
than  a  century  after  Christianity,  in  consequence  of  the  bap 
tism  of  king  Olof  Skotkonung,  began  to  be  more  generally 
known  by  the  Swedish  people,  the  Swedish  was  a  missionary 
church.  The  country  was  visited  by  teachers,  at  first  from 
France,  afterward  chiefly  from  England,  whose  distin 
guished  missionaries  began  to  turn  their  attention  to  the 
North,  when  their  former  fields  of  labor  in  the  Netherlands, 
Switzerland,  and  Germany,  had  well  nigh  fully  received  the 
f^oed-corn  of  God's  holy  word. 

These  teachers  traversed  the  regions  to  which  either  oppor 
tunity  or  the  hope  of  success  called  them.  We  are  informed 
by  Adam,  of  Bremen,  that  about  the  year  1070,  there  was 
found  in  Sweden,  because  of  the  late  planting  of  Christianity, 
no  episcopal  see  with  defined  boundaries;  but  that  any 
bishop,  approved  by  the  king  or  people,  built  churches  in 
common  with  others,  travelled  over  the  land,  converted  to 
Christianity  as  many  as  he  could,  and  ruled  them  during  his 
life,  without  the  jealoilsy  of  another. 


REFOKMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  3 

In  the  twelfth  century,  for  the  first  time,  the  Swedish 
church  was  brought  into  a  close  agreement  with  the  general 
institutions  of  the  Western  church ;  and  from  being  a  mis 
sionary  field,  became  a  complete  member  of  the  ecclesiastical 
communion  of  Western  Europe.  This  condition  of  things 
was  perfected,  and  the  structure  completed,  in  1248 ;  when, 
through  the  decree  of  a  council  held  in  Skening,  the  law  ol 
clerical  celibacy  was  brought  into  practice  in  Sweden,  anc 
the  whole  legislation  of  the  Roman  church  was  more  widely 
recognized  and  considered  as  a  pattern.  To  present  to  the 
reader  a  clear  picture  of  the  church  whose  emendation  was 
the  work  and  honor  of  the  sixteenth  century,  it  is  necessary, 
even  in  this  general  outline,  to  explain  her  condition  anterior 
to  the  commencement  of  the  Reformation.  The  present 
Sweden  contains  within  its  borders  the  two  cities  which, 
during  the  middle  ages,  from  the  twelfth  century,  were  cen 
tres,  the  one,  Upsala,  for  the  church  of  Sweden,  and  the 
other,  Lund,  for  the  church  of  Denmark.  A  picture  of  the 
church's  outward  condition  must  present  the  two  metropoli 
tan  sees ;  and  also  the  episcopal  sees  which  were  subject  to 
Upsala,  and  embraced  in  that  ecclesiastical  province. 

The  see  of  .Upsala  first  presents  itself,  with  clearness  for 
historic  purposes,  in  the  time  of  king  Erik  the  saint.  He 
had  raised  to  this  see  the  Englishman  Henrik,  who  is  re 
ported  to  have  come  to  Sweden  with  his  countiyman,  Nich 
olas  Breakspear.*  Henrik,  who  is  wont  to  be  considered  the 
fourth  bishop  of  Upsala,  was,  through  a  similarity  of  pious 
tastes,  united  in  close  friendship  with  king  Erik.  The  king 
and  the  bishop  labored  mutually  for  the  establishment  of  the 
Swedish  church,  and  mutually  to  promote  the  conversion  of 
the  Finns. 

A  few  years  after  their  death,  an  archbishopric  was  cre 
ated  at  Upsala.  The  confirmation  brief  of  pope  Alexander 

*  Cardinal  of  Alba ;  afterward  pope,  under  the  title  of  Adrian  IV, 


4  HISTORY    OF   THE   ECCLESIASTICAL 

III.,  .luted  August  5,  1164,  for  Stephen  the  first  archbishop, 
jiliurs  him  below  the  archbishop  of  Lund.  As  Stephen, 
according  to  the  pope's  grant  and  command,  was  consecrated 
to  his  office  by  archbishop  Eskil,  of  Lund;  so,  without 
doubt,  were  the  successors  of  the  one  to  receive  consecra 
tion,  and  to  show  duty  and  obedience  to  the  successors  of 
the  other,  as  primate. 

The  immediate  successors  of  Stephen  received  consecra 
tion  to  the  archbisopric  of  Upsala  from  the  archbishop  of 
Lund.  But  an  effort  was  soon  made  to  be  released  from 
this  obligation,  which  seemed  derogatory  to  the  Swedish 
people.  It  was  sometimes  even  denied  that  the  obligation 
ever  existed ;  and  the  Roman  chair  upheld  or  permitted  the 
case,  according  as  ignorance  of  the  true  state  of  things,  or 
the  interest  of  the  times,  influenced  the  matter. 

It  is  said  that  Nicholas  Ragvaldi,  bishop  of  Wcxio,  repre 
sentative  of  the  kingdoms  of  the  North  at  the  council  of 
Basle,  and  in  the  name  of  Erik  XIII.,  effected  the  Swedish 
church's  independence  of  the  primate  of  Lund.  It  may  be 
added  of  this  remarkable  man,  that,  on  his  entrance  into  the 
council,  he  arrested  attention  by  his  speech  on  the  origin  of 
the  Goths  from  Scandinavia ;  a  speech  which  showed  the 
right  ofNieholas,  as  envoy  of  the  Gothic  kings,  to  take  the  first 
place  among  the  legates  of  princes.  He  was  afterward  sent, 
by  a  commission  of  the  council,  to  establish  a  peace  between 
the  king  of  France  and  the  duke  of  Burgundy.  In  the 
year  1438  he  was  elected,  and  at  Basle  confirmed  and  con 
secrated,  as  archbishop  of  Upsala ;  with  firmness  contended 
for  the  Swedish  church's  independence  of  the  temporal 
power  in  the  election  of  bishops ;  as  archbishop,  after  his 
return,  laid  the  foundation  at  Stacket  of  that  unfortunate 
castle,  and  in  1440  bartered  it  with  the  crown.  Not  a 
word,  however,  of  the  independence  of  which  we  have 
ppoken,  occurs  in  the  records  of  the  council ;  and  we  are  left 
in  doubt  of  the  passage  of  such  a  decree.  In  our  day  we 


REFORMATION    IN    SAVEDEN.  5 

see  that,  in  Sweden,  this  claim  of  the  primate  would  be  im 
proper.          , 

Some  years  after  the  appearance  of  Nicholas  at  Basle,  it 
happened,  at  the  Scandinavian  council  of  Kalmar,  that 
Tuve,  archbishop  of  Lund,  permitted  his  archiepiscopal 
cross  to  be  borne  before  him.  This  right  belonged  to  a  me 
tropolitan  only  in  his  province.  The  archbishop  of  Upsala, 
the  Nicholas  we  have  mentioned,  was  not  in  Kalmar ;  but 
his  suffragans,  the  bishops  of  Linkoping,  Strangness,  and 
Wexio,  considered  him  injured,  because  Tuve,  by  the  use  of 
the  cross  in  this  place,  seemed  "  to  show  that  he  wished  to 
press  either  his  pre-eminence  or  right  of  primacy  within  the 
province  of  Upsala."  The  protestors,  together  with  the  lag- 
man  or  judge,  Bengt  Jonsson,  and  the  castellan  of  Stockholm, 
Magnus  Gren,  publicly  and  solemnly,  in  an  express  action 
noted  and  witnessed,  appealed  to  the  privileges  and  imme 
morial  prescription  of  the  church  of  Upsala.  In  vain  had 
archbishop  Tuve  declared,  that,  solely  for  the  honor  of  God, 
and  from  respect  to  king  Christopher,  who  was  present  at 
the  council,  had  he  employed  his  cross,  but  that  he  thereby 
by  no  means  wished  to  signify  any*  pre-eminence  in  the 
Swedish  ecclesiastical  provinces,  and  that  he  would  readily 
permit  the  archbishop  of  Upsala  to  bear  the  cross  before 
him  in  the  ecclesiastical  province  of  Lund.  The  legal  pro 
test  was,  nevertheless,  in  right  of  their  archbishop,  recorded 
by  the  cautious  Swedish  bishops. 

A  like  scene  occurred  again  at  Kalmar,  in  1482,  at  a 
council  where  were  present  the  archbishops  of  Upsala  and 
Lund,  Jacob  Ulfsson  and  John  Broksdorp,  who,  besides  other 
merits,  were  each  men  of  mark,  and  active  in  laying  the 
foundation  of  the  first  universities  in  their  fatherland  at 
Upsala  and  Kopenham.  John,  like  Tuve,  permitted  his 
archiepiscopal  cross  to  be  borne  before  him.  Jacob  Ulfsson 
protested,  proceeded  by  two  messengers  to  forbid  the  attempt 


C  HISTORY    OP    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

of  the  prelate  of  Lund,  and  even  laid  his  complaint  before 
pope  Sixtus  IV. 

The  relations,  however,  were  in  process  of  time  con 
siderably  changed.  John  Bengtsson,  the  dean  of  Upsala, 
was  called,  after  the  death  of  Nils  Ragvaldsson,  in  1448,  to 
the  archbishopric.  His  procurators  were  sent  to  seek  con 
firmation  from  that  pope,  for  whom  a  strong  party  in  Ger 
many  declared  itself.  There  was  no  question  of  seeking  this 
confirmation  in  Lund.  One  of  the  messengers  hastened  before 
the  others  to  Basle ;  the  others  to  Rome,  to  pope  Nicholas 
V.,  who  wrote  to  John  Bengtsson,  that  if  he  would  reject 
and  denounce  the  council  of  Basle,  and  acknowledge  Nicholas 
as  pope  and  Christ's  representative,  to  whom  belong  con 
firmation  and  investiture  in  office,  the  election  should  be  ap 
proved,  and  John  in  all  else  experience  the  pope's  favor. 
The  archbishop,  who  had  been  consecrated  at  Upsala,  on 
the  confirmation  of  the  council  of  Basle,  allowed  himself  to 
be  consecrated  anew  after  he  obtained  the  confirmation  of 
Nicholas.  The  reward  of  this  compliance  was  received  in 
1455,  when  pope  Calixtus  HI.  called  him  primate  of  Swe 
den,  a  title  which  thus  belonged  at  the  same  time  to  two 
'  archbishops. 

With  John  Bengtsson,  who  was  connected  with  the  most 
influential  families  of  the  land,  and  portioned  it  among  his 
time-servers  and  partisans-,  began,  with  increasing  vehemence, 
even  in  Sweden,  the  effort  to  match  the  visible  church's 
strength  with  that  of  the  state.  This  false  extension  of  the 
church's  power,  which  culminated  in  the  contests  between 
the  popes  and  emperors,  had  chiefly  shown  itself  in  Western 
Europe,  and  had  for  some  time  occasioned  the  archbishops  of 
Lund  to  reach  the  highest  point  of  rivalry  with  the  kings  of 
Denmark.  Jacob  Ulfsson,  successor  to  archbishop  John 
fcngtsson,  was  nominated  at  Rome,  though  the  chapter  of 
Upsala  elected  another,  Thord,  who,  however,  died  before 
the  return  from  Italy  of  Jacob,  who  was  living  there  when 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  7 

the  nomination  occurred,  and  who  possessed  his  dignities  the 
unusually  long  period  of  nearly  forty-five  years.*  He  experi 
enced,  in  1497,  the  revenge  of  the  elder  Sten  Sture  in  the  sack 
and  plundering  of  the  archiepiscopal  garden  at  Upsala,  and 
in  other  outrages  done  to  the  persons  of  churchmen  and  the 
property  of  the  church ;  for  which  Sture  was  excommuni 
cated  by  him.  But  Ulfsson  was  to  a  great  degree  protected, 
partly  by  his  own  skill,  partly  by  the  quieter  state  of  the 
times,  from  the  storm  which  obliged  his  predecessor,  at  last, 
in  order  to  escape  the  wrath  of  king  Charles  "VJJJL,  to  seek 
refuge  in  Oeland.  There  he  died  ;  and  prepared  for  his 
next  successor  the  mournful  lot  of  bringing  upon  himself  a 
more  determined  hate  than  ever  any  Swedish  man  experi 
enced  from  his  countrymen. 

This  was  the  well  known  Gustavus  Trolle,  whom  Jacob 
Ulfsson  proposed  as  his  successor.  He  had  studied  at  foreign 
/  universities,  especially  at  Cologne,  and  resided  at  Rome ; 
-."when,  in  1513,  he  became  dean  of  Linkoping,  and  May 
^5th,  1515,  archbishop  of  Upsala,  with  the  right  of  retain 
ing  the  deanery  of  Linkoping.  He  hastened  home  to  Up 
sala  to  strengthen,  by  the  weight  of  his  office,  the  party  in 
his  native  land  to  which  he  and  his  father,  the  senator  Erik 
Trolle,  belonged.  But  already  had  the  union  with  Denmark 
begun  to  show  the  fruit  which,  in  some  few  years,  was  fully 
ripened ;  for  the  struggle  to  preserve  this  union  was,  in  the 
eyes  of  many,  treason  against  the  fatherland.  The  noble 
and  placable  regent,  Sten  Sture,  had  determined  to  solicit  the 
pope's  confirmation  of  the  election,  which  raised  to  the 
chair  of  Upsala  the  son  of  the  man  who  was  in  rivalry  with 
himself  for  the  regency.  His  innate  mildness  did  not  per 
mit  him  to  foresee  the  character  of  that  passion  of  party 
hate,  which,  in  the  confusion  of  the  times,  disconcerts  men, 

*  He  was  consecrated  at  Home  in  1470,  laid  down  his  office  in  1514,  and 
retired  to  a  monastery  of  the  Carthusians,  where  he  died  in  1522.  His  body 
was  removed  to  Upsala  in  1526. 


8  HISTORY    OP    THE   ECCLESIASTICAL 

and  confounds  every  noble  suffrage  of  their  hearts.  From  the 
moment  the  archbishop  again  trod  the  soil  of  his  fatherland, 
was  he  the  declared  open  foe  of  the  regent.  All  the  ad 
vances  Sture  took  for  a  reconciliation,  were  rejected  with 
contempt  and  ridicule.  The  defiant  prelate  regarded  neither 
the  pope's  advice  to  him,  nor  that  of  the  clergy,  not  to  begin 
an  open  strife  with  the  temporal  powers,  but  to  aim  at  promo 
ting  peace.  In  vain  did  sundry  of  the  bishops,  the  former 
archbishop  Jacob  Ulfsson  (now  in  a  monastery),  and  the 
chapter  and  burgesses  of  Stockholm,  exhort  him  to  modera 
tion..  After  Trolle  had  declined  to  appear  at  the  diet  of 
Sodertelje  in  151G,  where  he  had  been  called,  the  regent 
was  obliged  to  attempt  by  force  to  put  a  restraint  upon  him, 
and  undertook  to  besiege  him  in  his  castle  of  Stacket,  St.  Erik'? 
castle,  in  which  the  archbishop  had  shut  himself  up.  At 
the  diet  of  Arboga,  the  estates,  Jan.  7,  1517,  decreed  that 
Trolle  should  be  degraded  from  his  office,  and  that  Sture 
was  not  worthy  of  his  office  if  he  allowed  such  treason  to  be 
unpunished.  It  was  desired  that  the  pope  should  be  applied 
to  for  another  archbishop,  and  Jacob  Ulfsson  was  im 
prisoned  on  suspicion  of  having  part  in  the  machinations 
of  Trolle. 

^  In  vain  was  an  effort  made  to  effect  a  reconciliation  in  a 

et  at  Stockholm,  in  the  end  of  November  of  the  same  year 

The  archbishop,  who  was  there  under  a  safe  conduct,  de- 

1  himself  unwilling  to  acknowledge  the  estates  for  his 

.e  wished  to  prove  his  innocence  before  the  holy 

*ther  at  Rome,  who  intrusted  him  with  both  the  spiritual 

temporal  sword,  by  which  he  hoped  to  maintain  the 

giance  he  swore  the  royal  house  of  Denmark,  and  added 

would  be  more  ready  for  treason  who  seduced  them 

hat  allegiance.     Still  more  provoked  by  this  insolence, 

states  pronounced  Trolle  guilty  of  high  treason,  as  one 

m  opposition  to  the  lawful  authority  of  his  native 

and  decreed  that  he  should  be  degraded  from  his 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  9 

office,  and  that  his  castle  of  Stacket,  which  had  been  from 
its  foundation  prejudicial  to  the  kingdom,  should  be  razed  to 
the  ground. 

The  archbishop,  whom  the  defeat  of  the  Danes  at  Dufvena 
deprived  of  all  hope  of  relief,  was  obliged,  soon  after  his  re 
turn  from  the  diet  at  Stockholm,  to  give  up  his  castle,  which, 
as  every  one  who  had  held  possession  of  it  had  used  it  as  a 
stronghold  of  power,  was  in  the  following  year  levelled  to  the 
ground.  Trolle  himself,  who,  on  the  arrival  of  the  Danish 
succours  at  the  rocks  of  Stockholm,  had  inconsiderately  and 
unworthily  declared  that  he  now  "  would  make  his  blessing 
in  the  kingdom,  over  its  peasantry,  with  his  sharp  spears," 
was  rescued  with  difficulty  from  the  rage  of  the  people, 
and  was  shut  up  in  the  convent  of  the  grey  friars.  He  then 
resigned  his  office  into  the  hands  of  pope  Leo  X.,  because 
the  estates  refused  to  pay  tithes  as  long  as  he  held  the  epis 
copal  chair,  with  an  oath  vowed  to  God  they  never  more 
would  acknowledge  him  as  archbishop,  or  take  the  sacra 
ment  at  his  hands,  and  required  his  solemn  promise  never 
more  to  resume  the  crosier.  At  the  diet  of  Arboga,  in  De 
cember,  1518,  he  renewed  his  abdication,  and  obtained  a 
permission  to  maintain  himself  on  his  father's  property  at 
Ekholm  in  Upland. 

In  the  last  named  diet,  the  judgment  of  degradation  pro 
nounced  upon  Trolle  by  the  estates,  was  approved  by  Ar- 
cimbold,  the  papal  legate.  The  judgment  was,  neverthe 
less,  contrary  to  the  rule  and  law  of  the  church  ;  and  Ar- 
cimbold  was  found  not  more  disposed  to  it  for  Sture's  sake. 
It  was  also  already  settled  that  the  contest  between  Sture 
and  Trolle  was  at  an  end.  Pope  Leo  X.,  who  had  already, 
in  1514,  excommunicated,  or  threatened  to  excommunicate, 
Sten  Sture  for  his  unkindness  to  the  queen  mother  Chris 
tina,*  commissioned,  in  1517,  Berger,  archbishop  of  Lund, 

*  Mother  of  Christian  II.,  to  whom  Sture  refused  to  give  up  her  widow's 
seat  at  Orebro. 


10  HI6TOR$    OF   THE   ECCLESIASTICAL 

"  as  primate  of  Sweden  and  legate  of  the  Apostolic  see,"  and 
the  bishop  of  Roskild,  to  inquire  into  the  charges  which 
"king  Christian  brought  against  Sture ;  such  as  his  outrage 
toward  archbishop  Trolle  and  the  church's  property,  the 
imprisonment  of  Jacob  Ulfsson,  the  withdrawal  of  the  re 
venues  of  Upsala  which  were  due  to  Trolle,  and  the  sup 
port  given  to  the  injustice  of  his  countrymen  who  were  trai 
tors.  Berger,  on  May  30,  1517,  put  in  force  the  excommu 
nication  against  the  regent  and  his  adherents,  declared  Sture 
unworthy  to  hold  office,  and  his  descendants  in  the  second 
degree  incapacitated  from  having  places  or  benefices  within 
the  diocese  in  which  the  archbishop  was  besieged.  This 
excommunication  was  renewed  and  sharpened  in  1519. 
Sture  and  his  adherents  were  mulcted  for  the  sum  of  a  hun 
dred  thousand  ducats  if  they  did  not,  within  a  given  time, 
place  Trolle  in  full  freedom,  leave  the  church  and  castle  at 
Upsala  in  as  good  condition,  or  better,  than  before,  and 
restore  or  make  compensation  for  the  church's  property  which 
had  been  destroyed. 

So  rose  the  mightiest  prelates  of  the  North,  the  arch 
bnhops  of  Upsala  and  Lund,  and  the  resigned  archbishop 
Jacob  Ulfsson,  with  the  united  strength  of  their  own  and 
the  pope's  authority,  to  oppress  the  cause,  which,  in  Sweden, 
was  all  the  more  embraced  and  accepted  as  that  of  freedom 
and  the  fatherland.  Events  verified  the  expression  which 
was  used  in  1497,  by  the  elder  Sten  Sture,  that  "bishops 
should  not  have  fortresses,  but  seats  in  their  churches ;"  and 
they  prepared  the  minds  of  the  people  for  the  measures 
adopted  at  Westerns,  in  1527,  to  avert  for  the  future  what 
the  kingdom  had  felt,  that  "bishops,  and  the  privileges  of 
the  church,  had  been  used  for  means  of  power." 

But  still  the  matter  was  not  brought  to  completion.  King 
Christian's  chance  of  war  soon  roused  again  Gustavus 
Trolle,  who,  on  the  ground  that  his  degradation  was  illegal 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  11 

and  extorted,  resumed  his  office,  became  the  king's  firmest 
supporter,  and,  to  outward  appearance  at  least,  the  occasion 
of  the  massacre  at  Stockholm,  in  1520,  whose  remembrance 
the  changes  of  the  three  hundred  following  years  have  not 
sufficed  to  blot  from  the  hearts  of  the  Swedish  people.  The 
archbishop  made  his  appearance  there  as  complainant,  and 
the  pretence  for  the  massacre  was  the  persecution  he  suf 
fered,  and  the  violence  done  the  church's  domains  by  Sture 
and  his  followers.  As  the  king's  revenge  went  no  further  than 
Trolle's  purpose  against  the  men,  who  now  were  considered 
and  treated  as  being  under  the  church's  bann,  so  has  the 
memory  of  that  prelate  become  indissolubly  connected  with 
Christian's  cruel  tyranny.  The  death  of  two  bishops  on  the 
same  occasion,  without  lawful  judgment  by  a  spiritual  court, 
was  to  punish  one  evil  by  another.* 

When,  upon  the  breaking  out  of  the  war  of  freedom,  the 
fortune  of  Christian  began  to  decline,  Gustavus  Trolle  was 
forced  to  fly  from  his  country,  where  his  degradation  was 
held  valid,  though  the  Romish  church  still  considered  him 
as  legal  archbishop  of  Upsala.  He  never  ventured  back  to 
Sweden,  although  summoned  under  a  safe  conduct  given  by 
king  Gustavus  I.  What  he  had  to  expect,  he  could  fore 
see.  The  mere  report  that  king  Gustavus  designed  to  rec 
oncile  himself  with  Trolle,  roused  the  threat  of  the  Dalecar- 
lians,  that  they  would  renounce  fealty  and  homage  to  the 
king  if  he  became  reconciled  to  that  traitor  to  his  country. 
Together  with  the  counts  of  Denmark,  Trolle  appeared, 

*  Thus  were  all  those  branded  as  "Bannmen,"  or  excommunicated,  who 
had  been  against  the  archbishops,  and  consented  that  Stacket  should  be  de 
molished.  But  kin<>  Christian  accounted  none  for  Bannmen  who  did  him 
homage  as  king.  Nor  were  bishop  Vincentius  and  bishop  Matts  so  con 
sidered,  when  they,  with  the  archbishop,  crowned  him.  Bishop  Hans  Brask 
saved  afterward  his  life  by  reference  to  the  protest  which  he  secretly  put 
under  his  seal,  with  the  judgment.  He  had  attached  a  piece  of  paper  on 
which  he  had  written  the  words,  "This  I  was  necessitated  and  constrained 
to  do." 


12  HISTORY    OF   THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

with  weapon  in  hand,  to  sustain  the  cause,  on  the  success 
of  which  depended  a  change  in  his  own  condition.  He  was 
nominated  by  count  Christopher  to  the  see  of  Odensee,  and 
conquered  it  by  force.  But  wounded  in  battle  at  Fyen,  in 
1535,  he  was  carried  as  a  prisoner  to  Slcswick,  where  he 
died.  Soon  after,  and  there  probably,  the  letter  reached 
him,  in  which  Gustavus  desired  him  to  return  to  Sweden. 
Previously  the  pope  had  abandoned  him. 

The  archbishopric  of  Upsala  embraced  of  old,  beside 
its  present  provinces,  the  whole  of  Noriiand.  Even  Jemt- 
land  and  Ilerjdalen,  though  under  the  crown  of  Norway, 
was  subject  of  old  to  the  church  of  Upsala. 

Of  the  suffragans  of  Upsala,  the  foremost  was  the  bishop 
of  Linkoping,  to  whose  see  even  the  present  sees  of  Kalmar 
and  Gottland,  and  the  whole  fief  of  Jonkoping,  or  the  whole 
of  Snialand,  except  Varend,  which  is  peculiar,  paid  obedi 
ence.  There  was  doubt,  when  the  Swedish  archbishopric 
was  to  be  erected,  whether  it  should  be  placed  at  Upsala  or 
Linkoping. 

From  the  first  part  of  the  twelfth  century,  the  bishops  of 
Linkoping  began  to  present  a  regular  succession,  shining 
through  many  personally  eminent  men,  and  by  the  respect 
acquired  from  the  favor  of  many  kings,  and  its  accumulated 
wealth.  Among  these, 

"  That  bright  examples  might  be  given, 
Of  men  who  gained  their  strength  from  heavnn," 

appears,  in  the  first  rank,  bishop  Henrik,  of  Upsala,  who 
became  a  martyr  for  the  extension  of  the  gospel  on  the  east 
ern  coast  of  our  eastern  sea.  In  the  fourteenth  century  the 
honors  of  a  saint  were  gained  by  bishop  Nicholas  Herman 
for  his  pious  life  and  the  miracles  at  his  tomb. 

The  bishops  of  Linkoping  soon  became  powerful  in  the 
state ;  but  especially  has  Kettil  Wase,  bishop  from  1459  to 
1465,  and  cotcmporary  with  archbishop  John  Bengtsson 


KEFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  13 

Oxenstjeriia,  made  himself  more  remarkable  for  his  adminis 
tration,  and  the  manner  in  which  he  used  the  temporal 
sword  against  the  king  of  his  country,  than  for  any  merit 
toward  his  church.  On  the  death  of  his  successor,  Henry 
Tidcman,  in  1500,  who  is  commended  for  his  care  of  his  see, 
Dr.  Hemming  Gad,  eminent  for  his  learning,  eloquence, 
and  policy,  was,  in  1502,  elected  bishop.  In  1478  he  was 
sent  by  Sten  Sture,  the  elder,  to  Home,  and  remained  there 
probably  more  than  twelve  years,  as  representative  of  the 
regent  in  the  Roman  court.  He  is  said  to  have  been  math 
ematician  and  chamberlain  to  pope  Alexander  VI.  lu 
a  man  who  remained  near  the  Roman  see  in  the  most  vi 
cious  days  of  the  popes  Sixtus  V.,  Alexander  VI.,  and  Inno 
cent  VIH.,  we  cannot  expect  to  find  a  spiritual  mind;  but 
his  participation  in  the  momentous  public  affairs  of  his  na 
tive  land,  his  eloquence,  and  his  death  by  Christian,  that 
worthy  hangman  of  cruelty,  have  preserved  his  name  in  the 
annals  of  his  country.  Afterward,  in  1512,  he  visited  the 
diocese  of  Linkoping,  into  which  he  never  was  consecrated. 
The  resistance  of  the  Danish  king,  and  especially  the  cir 
cumstance  that  the  pope  promised  the  see  to  cardinal  Jacob 
Arborensis,  were  impediments  that  could  not  be  overcome. 

Hans  Brask,*  born  in  1464,  at  Linkoping,  of  which  his 
father  was  burgomaster,  was  consecrated  bishop  of  that  see 
in  1513.  He  was  educated  at  Skara,  became  a  master  at 
Grrifswaldj  in  1488,  and  in  his  travels  remained  seven  years, 
from  1499  to  1506,  at  Home.  After  being  made  canon  of 
Linkoping,  he  became,  at  the  age  of  forty-one,  dean  of  the 
same ;  and  in  his  forty-ninth  year  was  made  its  bishop. 

Bishop  Brask  was  one  of  those  men  who,  without  depth 
or  comprehensiveness  of  mind,  have  a  tolerably  sharp  judg 
ment,  while  their  imagination  and  vivacity  ripen  it  to  imme- 

*  He  held  his  first  mass  at-Linkoping,  on  December  8,  1513,  when,  as  the 
rhyme  chronicle  observes,  a  furious  storm  raged  over  East-Gothland. 


14  HISTORY   OF   THE   ECCLESIASTICAL 

diatc  action.  They  shun  every  doubt  of  the  existing  right 
of  discipline,  because  this  doubt  maims  healthy  action,  and 
disturbs  the  soul's  joy  in  doing  and  suffering  on  clear  consci 
entious  grounds,  and  for  clear  conscientious  aims.  They  are 
thus  champions  in  the  contests  of  church  and  state,  in  such 
wise,  that  their  immovable  firmness  will  not  permit  the  good 
which  has  been  tried  to  be  lost  through  whim  and  passion ; 
but  they  restrain,  by  stubborn  resistance,  the  novelty  which  is 
to  prove  and  purify  itself  in  the  progress  of  controversy. 

It  was  this  species  of  activity  which  places  Brask  fore 
most  among  the  opposers  of  ecclesiastical  reform  in  Sweden. 
.Jurisprudence  had  been  his  study;  and  even  the  old  lawyers 
of  Rome  were  not  unknown  to  him.  But  his  epistolary  cor 
respondence,  which  is  yet  preserved,  shows  that  he  had  not 
the  freedom  of  thought  and  the  ease  which  are  wont  to  be 
exhibited  in  such  lighter  forms  of  communication. 

For  his  rejection  of  the  church's  reform,  he  had  the  one 
fundamental  maxim,  that  the  truth  of  the  Roman  church 
was  a  closed  case.  To  doubt  of  this  was  itself  a  crime. 

His  view  of  civil  society  is  disclosed  in  the  following  ex 
pressions  from  his  letter  to  Peter  Benedict,  on  September  3, 
1524:*  "We  talk  strongly  of  the  kingdom's  freedom,  and 
meanwhile  do  not  consider  where  it  is  to  be  found  ;  while  the 
church  and  nobles  in  other  kingdoms  which  are  hereditary, 

*  The  quoted  passage  i.«  taken  fiom  a  commission  to  Peter,  who  was  on  a 
journey  abroad,  to  apprise  Brask  of  the  church's  condition  in  foreign  lands,  of 
the  people's  light  to  determine  taxes,  the  temporal  privileges  of  princes  in 
respect  to  the  church's  tenants,  of  the  duties  of.bishops  to  the  crown,  &c.  In 
conclusion,  to  prove  the  multitudinous  cares  of  Brask,  it  is  said,  that  Peter 
is  advised  to  learn  the  Italian,  and  especially  the  French  tongue  ;  "  for  it 
grieves  us  to  neglect,"  as  he  says,  "  to  be  informed  of  the  mode  of  making 
salt,  the  refining  of  gold  and  silver,  the  difference  between  the  precious 
stones,  the  art  of  the  apothecary,  and  the  prices  of  book  printing  at  Paris, 
and  how  to  procure  the  newest  books  on  jurisprudence,  ar.d  in  particular  the 
Inamorata  of  Charlemagne  and  the  Orlando."  These  the  bishop  wished  To 
translate  for  the  sake  of  soldiers.  He  sent  books  to  read  to  Thure  Johnson,  to 
bishop  Magnus  of  Skara,  and  to  Margaret,  the  sister  of  king  Gustavus. 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  15 

not  only  enjoy  their  ancient  liberties,  but  have  more  than  we 
here  at  any  time  have  found.  In  other  lands,  bishops  have 
whole  tracts,  castles,  and  towns ;  here  a  man  may  not  have 
a  house  where,  if  it  so  pleased  him,  he  could  turn  a  pair  of 
oxen.  *  *  The  freedom  of  our  kingdom  depends  upon 

the  church  and  nobles ;  because  the  peasantry  will  always 
make  their  yearly  tax,  board,  and  day's  work,  alike,  when 
they  enjoy  nothing  but  freedom  ;  because  the  revenues  of  the 
crown  must  not  be  diminished ;  and  because,  if  the  church 
and  nobles  do  not  enjoy  their  old  privileges  in  their  tenants, 
there  is  here  no  freedom  to  take,  but  their  property  is  laid 
waste  for  the  numerous  house  tenants.  And  thus  the  church 
and  clergy  become  first  ruined,  and  then  doubtless  the  crown  ; 
if  they  are  helpless  who  should  protect  it  when  it  is  pressed." 
To  the  support  and  success  of  his  resistance  to  the  refor 
mation,  two  obstacles  presented  themselves,  furnished  by  his 
position  and  his  own  obligations.  The  one  was  the  disturb 
ances  caused  by  king  Christian  and  archbishop  Trolle.* 
Brask  loved  the  freedom  of  his  country,  in  the  sense  we  have 
just  seen  him  explain  this  freedom.  This  love  obliged  him 
to  take  part  with  the  cause  of  the  deliverer,  Gustavus  I., 
while  the  obligation  weakened  him  in  his  opposition  to  the 
men  who  enjoyed  that  king's  favor,  and  in  his  opposition  to 
the  king  himself.  The  other  obstacle,  though  not  affecting 
him  alone,  but  the  condition  of  the  church,  whose  champion 
he  became,  was  the  want  of  moral  purity  and  strength  in 
action.  It  was  this  Jesuitical  seed,  which  long  grew  in  the 

*  On  the  journey  to  Denmark,  after  the  massacre  of  Stockholm,  Christian 
passed  Christmas  with  bishop  Brask  ;  how  welcome  a  guest,  surrounded  as 
he  was  by  those  worthy  of  the  hangman  and  the  gallows,  may  be  supposed. 
The  king  showed  his  gratitude,  when,  on  his  return  home,  he  allowed  the 
abbot,  and  twelve  monks  of  the  monastery  of  Nydala,  to  be  drowned. 
During  the  summer  of  1520,  the  bishop's  estate  at  Linkoping  was  besieged  by 
the  burghers  of  Wadsten,  who  were  provoked  that  the  bishop  subscribed  the 
reconciliation  which  was  agreed  to,  on  the  27th  of  February,  between  him  and 
the  king. 


16  HISTORY  OF   TIIE   ECCLESIASTICAL 

old  church,  in  which  learned  men,  through  the  violence  of 
the  times,  had  become  scarce,  that  determined  bishop  Brask 
to  substitute  compliance  for  open  opposition ;  as  he  did  in  the 
case  of  Trolle's  doom  of  degradation,  in  1517,  and  at  "Wes- 
teras,  ten  years  after.  There  was  a  want  of  moral  strength, 
when,  in  1527,  he  gave  up  all  opposition  and  fled  the  country. 

The  bishopric  of  Skara,  to  which  Vermland  and  Dais- 
land  belonged,  dates  its  origin  from  the  time  of  Sigfrid,  who 
baptized  king  Olof  Skotkonung,  as  appears  from  its  list  of 
bishops  and  the  first  bounds  of  the  diocese.  The  regions  of 
country  from  which  the  kingdom  of  Christ  first  made  its  ad 
vances  in  Sweden,  have  at  least  the  praise  of  having  at  once 
publicly  embraced  Christianity,  and  in  the  first  century  after 
king  Olof 's  baptism  they  became  its  firmest  support.  Of  the 
many  bishops  accredited  for  zeal  and  ability,  mention  only  may 
be  made  of  Brynolf,  the  first  of  that  name,  who  died  in  1317, 
eminent  for  his  learning,  eloquence,  and  canonization.  At 
the  close  of  the  middle  ages,  the  bishops  of  the  see  of  Skara 
were  of  less  importance  in  the  state  than  those  of  Upsala, 
Linkoping,  and  Abo. 

In  the  year  1520  the  diocese  became  vacant  by  the  death 
of  bishop  Vincentius,  at  the  massacre  of  Stockholm.  In 
his  place  Christian  intruded  his  own  chancellor  and  favor 
ite,  master  Didrik  Slagok,  to  whom  he  soon  after  gave  the 
bishopric  of  Lund.  That  he  was  so  far  canonically  elected, 
as  the  choice  of  the  chapter  by  compulsion  of  the  king  could 
make  him,  is  probable  ;  but  after  his  nomination  he  never 
came  to  Skara ;  and  when  he  died,  in  1522,  the  see  again 
was  for  some  time  vacant. 

In  the  region  where  the  plant  of  Christianity  was  first 
watered,  the  diocese  of  Striingness,  which  grew  out  of  the 
blood  of  the  martyrs  Eskil  and  Bothvid,  according  to  our 
legends,  attained  its  present  condition  at  tl\e  close  of  the 
twelfth  century..  Among  the  older  bishops,  is  commended 
Thomas,  the  contemporary  of  Englcbrecht,  on  whom  he 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  17 

wrote  a  beautiful  elegy ;  nor  should  we  forget  Conrad  Hog- 
go,  doctor  of  law  at  Perugia,  learned,  pious,  and  active, 
who  died  in  1501.  His  successor,  Matthias  Gregersson,  who 
first  received  and  introduced  into  the  service  of  the  church 
Olaus  Petri,  on  his  return  from  Wittenberg,  became  master 
at  Greifswald  in  1489,  then  doctor  of  moral  jurisprudence, 
dean  of  Striingness  in  1495,  count  palatine  at  Rome  in 
1500,  and  the  year  after,  bishop  of  Striingness.  On  the 
degradation  of  Trolle,  he  appears  to  have  been  proposed  for 
the  archbishopric  of  Upsala.  He  was  put  to  death  at  the 
massacre  of  Stockholm.  His  death  roused  the  strongest  in 
dignation,  as  he  had  been  active  for  the  recognition  of  king 
Christian  in  Sweden.  On  the  occasion  of  his  being  beheaded, 
it  was  for  the  first  time  made  known  that  this  man,  of  un 
blemished  reputation  in  transacting  the  most  important  mat 
ters  of  his  church  and  country,  wore  next  his  body,  in  the 
practice  of  self-mortification,  a  rough  haircloth  shirt. 

As  he  had  done  in  the  case  of  Didrik  Slagok,  at  Skara, 
Christian  introduced  John  Bellenake  into  the  see  of  Striing 
ness.  But  without  executing  anything  in  his  diocese,  he  was 
obliged,  in  1521,  to  fly  to  Denmark;  and  the  see,  notwith 
standing  his  election,  again  became  vacant. 

St.  David  is  said  to  have  set  out  from  England  for  Swe 
den,  to  find  martyrdom  in  a  country  where,  as  his  attendants 
told  him,  the  three  nephews  of  St.  Sigfrid  had  suffered  the 
same.  But  when  he  could  not  find  martyrdom  in  Viirend, 
he  went  to  Westmanland,  and  is  accounted  the  first  bishop 
of  Westeras.  Long  afterward,  at  the  same  time  with 
Striingness,  this  see  was  put  into  form,  and  its  limits  marked 
out.  These  limits  are  still  the  same.  In  the  year  1501, 
Otto  Svinhufvud  was  elected  bishop  of  Westeras.  He  was 
among  the  friends  of  king  Christian,  and  appeared,  with 
Gustav  Trolle,  in  1520,  as  complainant  against  Sten  Sture 
and  his  adherents,  because  during  the  war  they  had  impris 
oned  the  bishop  as  well-affected  to  the  Danes,  and  had  pillaged 


18  HISTORY    OF   THE   ECCLESIASTICAL 

his  estate  at  Westeras.  It  is  reported,  that  to  this  bishop  is 
attached  the  sad  distinction  of  having  made  out  the  list  of 
the  men  to  be  beheaded.  Together  with  Trolle,  he  was  at 
once  accuser  and  judge.  At  the  breaking  out  of  Gustavus 
Ericson's  war  of  deliverance,  he  took  refuge  in  the  castle 
of  Stockholm,  during  the  siege  of  which,  in  1522,  he  there 
died. 

The  see  of  Wcxio,  like  that  of  Skara,  dates  its  -origin  from 
the  time  of  St.  Sigfrid.  Within  its  limits,  at  least  in  the 
IK-- inning  of  the  sixteenth  century,  Varend  alone  wasinclu 
ded ;  but  its  list  of  bishops  runs  back  to  the  twelfth.  In  the 
year  1495,  the  episcopal  chair  of  Wexiowas  seized  by  Inge- 
mar  Persson,  and  held  by  him  till  his  death,  in  1530.  He 
could  not  be  less  than  sixty-five  years  old  at  his  death,  per 
haps  older.  The  energetic  Brask,  who  never  depended  upon 
his  concurrence  in  opposing  the  reformation  of  the  church, 
made  excuse  for  him  in  1523,  as  advanced  in  life  and  sickly. 
bishop  Ingemar  was  the  only  one  of  the  Swedish  bishops 
who,  maintaining  the  post  he  had  previously  received,  lived 
beyond  the  disruption  of  the  old  and  new  state  of  things  for 
ten  years  after  the  death  of  the  younger  Sture.  His  age, 
together  with  a  quiet  and  complaisant  disposition,  may  have 
been  the  cause  of  his  taking  no  measures  for  staying  the  first 
advances  of  the  principles  of  the  reformation.  In  the  first 
years,  after  1520,  he  was  called  to  the  diets,  but  had  with 
drawn  himself  from  the  decisive  measures  that  were  in 
progress.  He  was  representative,  however,  at  Westeras  in 
1527,  and  at  Orebro  in  1529,  and  approved  the  decrees  there 
adopted. 

Through  the  crusade  which  was  undertaken  by  king 
Erik  the  saint,  and  his  friend  the  bishop  of  Upsala,  St. 
Henrik,  was  begun  the  conquest  of  territory  to  the  crown  of 
Sweden,  and  the  foundation  of  the  church  whose  episcopal 
seat  was  ultimately  placed  at  Abo.  From  the  year  1200, 
proceeds  its  regular  list  of  bishops.  Many  men  of  note 


TCEFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  19 

filled  this  see.  Among  them  was  Hemming,  who  died  in 
1367,  and  who  obtained  the  honors  of  a  saint.  From  the 
position  of  this  diocese  its  bishops  were  less  involved  in  intes 
tine  troubles.  The  missionary  work,  going  on  in  Finland 
and  the  neighborhood  of  Russia,  gave  them  commonly 
enough  to  do.  These  missions  were. of  much  consequence 
in  the  relations  of  Finland  to  Sweden  ;  but  they  had  much 
to  suffer  from  the  neighborhood  of  Russia.  Arvid  Kurck, 
consecrated  bishop  of  Abo,  in  1511,  was  thereby  often 
placed  in  difficulties.  After  the  outrages  of  Christian  the 
cruel,  the  bishop  soon  declared  himself  for  Gustavus  Ericson, 
but  was  obliged  to  fly  to  Sweden  from  apprehension  of 
Sverin  Norby.  During  his  flight,  he  was  overtaken  by  a 
storm  and  drowned,  in  the  summer  of  1522,  near  Oregrund; 
but  not  before  the  storm  of  the  Reformation  sufficed  to  prove 
his  spirit.  In  the  bishoprics  now  named,  Sweden,  as  it 
then  existed,  was  included  in  respect  to  its  spiritual  admin 
istration.  Of  the  provinces  afterward  acquired,  the  fief  of 
Bohus  was  subject  to  the  bishop  of  Opslo,  in  Norway.  Hal- 
land  and  Blekinge  constituted  the  archbishopric  of  Lund. 

Erected  in  the  year  1103,  afterward  freed  from  subjec 
tion  to  the  archbishop  qf  Bremen,  and  itself  endowed  with 
the  primacy  over  the  Swedish  church  (a  prerogative,  how 
ever,  which  ultimately  became  a  mere  title),  occupied  by  re 
markable  men,  though  often  more  suited  to  bear  the  tem 
poral  than  the  spiritual  sword ;  now  fighting  the  battles  of 
its  king,  now  prescribing  terms  to  those  who  wished  to 
wear  the  crown  of  Denmark,  the  archbishopric  of  Lund  was 
the  mightiest  and  most  splendid  of  the  North.  The  last 
who  held  it,  while  yet  it  remained  in  its  full  strength,  was 
Birger  Gunnarsson,  who  became  its  bishop  in  1497,  and  who, 
like  many  bishops  his  cotemporaries,  was  master  at  Greifs- 
wald.  He  it  was  who,  through  the  excommunication  of 
Sten  Sture,  the  younger,  and  his  adherents,  carried  to  a 
last  excess  the  papal  authority  committed  to  him.  This 


2()  HISTORY   OF   THE   ECCLESIASTICAL 

excommunication  was  the  last  known  act  of  an  archbishop 
of  Lund,  which  concerned  the  Swedish  church.  The  pri 
macy  expired  with  a  curse  upon  its  tongue. 

King  Christian's  violent  temper  and  conduct  caused  him 
to  become  one  of  those  scourges  of  God,  which  execute  his 
punishments  of  doom  upon  the  old,  and  introduce  a  new 
order  of  things,  by  shaking  and  removing  the  established 
foundations.  After  the  death  of  archbishop  Birger,  on  the 
10th  day  of  December,  1519,  he  endeavored,  by  passing 
over  Ake  Sparre,  whom  the  chapter  elected  as  successor,  to 
introduce  into  the  archiepiscopate  of  Lund,  first  Ake  Skot- 
borg,  withdrawn  when  he  would  not  comply  with  the  king's 
demand  to  deliver  up  Bornholm  to  the  crown,  and  who  died 
at  Cologne  in  1551,  then  Didrik  Sla.gok,  sacrificed  by  Christian 
as  an  expiation  for  the  massacre  of  Stockholm,  in  1522,  and 
ultimately  John  Wese,  who,  in  1523,  fled  the  country  with 
the  king,  declined  the  office,  because  he  heard  the  people  were 
unwilling  a  stranger  should  occupy  the  archbishopric,  and 
afterward  became  bishop  of  Kostnitz.  Ake  Sparre  took  pos 
session  of  the  see  till  1553,  without  being  consecrated  or 
confirmed  at  Rome,  and  then  voluntarily  resigned  his  dignity. 

2.— CANONS  AND    CATHEDRALS. 

The  papal  legate,  cardinal  Willia'm,  of  Sabina,  who  came 
to  Sweden  for  the  purpose  of  regulating  the  affairs  of  the 
church,  and  held  a  council  at  Skeninge  in  1248,  had  directed 
that,  in  every  cathedral  in  which  there  was  no  cliapter,  a 
prelate  and  at  least  five  canons  should  be  created,  to  whom 
it  should  belong,  in  an  occurring  vacancy,  to  elect  a  bishop. 
Tliis  had  now  become  the  canonical  election  in  the  Roman 
church,  from  which  election  laymen  were  altogether  ex 
cluded  ;  although  the  approbation  of  kings  never  ceased  to 
be  respected.  The  confirmation  of  the  election  remained  in 
the  metropolitan,  the  primate,  and  at  last  in  the  pope. 

This  ordinance  for  the  Swedish  church  was  appproved  at 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN. 

the  request  of  the  Swedish  clergy  by  pope  Innocent  ITT.  ; 
and,  on  the  contrary,  was  disapproved  when  the  practice 
became  prevalent  in  Sweden  for  bishops  to  be  appointed  by 
the  power  of  the  kings  and  nobility,  and  the  people's  call. 

Chapters  had  already  begun  to  be  formed  by  the  exist 
ence  of  monk  collegians,  or  the  so-called  regular  canons. 
About  the  year  1190,  archbishop  Peter,  of  Upsala,  gave,  for 
the  maintenance  of  the  canons,  all  the  tithes  of  Balinge  and 
Vaksala ;  to  the  bishops,  the  revenues  derived  from  Aby,  in 
Vaksala ;  and  a  hundred  yards  of  cloth  the  year  the  arch 
bishop  visited  his  converts  in  Helsingland ;  while  all  the 
property  and  income  the  canons  already  legally  possessed 
were  confirmed  to  them.  Secular  canons  (canonici  seculares), 
or  such  as  were  not  bound  by  any  monkish  rule,  had  begun 
to  be  established.  The  bishop  of  Skara  obtained  permis 
sion,  in  1220,  to  provide  his  church  with  regular,  or,  if  this 
could  not  be  done,  with  secular  canons.  The  bishop  of 
Linkoping  received,  1232,  a  license  from  pope  Gregory  IX. 
to  establish  canons  in  his  diocese,  where  such  ecclesiastics 
from  time  immemorial  were  not  found. 

At  Upsala,  archbishop  Jarler  (from  1236-1255),  in  whose 
time  the  council  of  Skeninge  was  held,  began  to  establish 
secular  canons.  At  first  they  were  four  in  number,  but 
that  was  increased  by  degrees.  The  strength  of  the  chapter 
in  numbers  contributed  in  no  small  measure  to  the  cathe 
dral's  glory  and  honor. 

To  these  canons  belonged  the  election  of  the  bishop. 
Through  them  the  bishop's  regimen  and  oversight  in  the 
management  of  his  see  were  exercised ;  and  in  an  occurring 
vacancy,  the  management  became  the  duty  of  the  chapter  or 
society  of  canons.  They  were  obliged  to  be  present  at 
divine  service  in  the  cathedral  at  canonical  hours ;  although 
they  are  often  complained  of  for  their  negligence  in  this  par 
ticular.  In  conclusion,  different  canons  had  certain  differ 
ent  duties ;  especially  the  prelate  or  provost,  who,  as  the  name 


HISTORY   OP   THE   ECCLESIASTICAL 

imports,  had  precedence  of  the  rest.     These  dignitaries  were 
called  by  titles  now  lost  in  the  Swedish  church  ;  the  prce- 
positus,  or  provost,  who  was  to  attend  to  the  ordering  of  divine 
service,  and  when  the  bishop  declined  their  performance,  to 
administer  such  priestly  functions  as  belonged  to  the  bishop, 
except  such  as  required  episcopal  consecration  ;  the  arch 
deacon,  who  had  ward  of  the  church's  property  and  main 
tenance  of  the  poor,  but  was  gradually  raised  to  a  very  high 
degree  of  influence  in  the  chapter  and  diocese;  the  decanus 
who  watched  over  order  and  propriety  within  the  chapter 
and  among  the  clergy  of  the  cathedral;  the  cantor,  who  spe 
cially  presided  over  the  music  of  the  church  ;  the  scholastics 
who  kept  or  had  inspection  of  the  cathedral  school.     There 
also  a  confessor  generalis  or  penitentiarius,  the  father 
confessor,  to  whom  the  more  difficult  cases  requirin-  confes 
sion  and  absolution  could  be  referred  from  the  cler^  of  the 
;  but  as  this  seemed  not  agreeable  to  certain  prebends 
came  only  a  bishop's  commission.    Certain  privileges  and 
immunities  were  granted  them  by  the  bishops  ;  and  £  Swe- 
en    here  did  not,  perhaps,  foil,  what  occurred  elsewhere, 
ie  canons,  on  an  election  of  bishops,  consulted  then' 
B  by  a  preconcerted  bargain  with  the  man  for  whom 

omesetthe 


^^ 
v 


REFORMATION   IN    SWEDEN.  23 

the  tithes  of  the  poor  were  transferred  to  the  chapter ;  partly 
from  the  gifts  -  of  individuals,  and  legacies  of  goods  and 
money. 

They  were  appointed  by  election  of  the  bishop  and  the 
chapter.  Yet  it  seems  the  king  had  the  right  of  appointment 
to  particular  dignities ;  and  this  was  even  reserved  to  the 
bishops. 

Besides  these  canons,  there  were  in  the  cathedrals,  vica- 
rite,  or  simple  prebends  (simplices  proebendas,  whose  posses 
sors  were  called  prosbendati),  established  by  gifts  or  legacies 
on  a  vow  made  at  the  church  in  special  seasons  of  the  year, 
or  from  the  wish  to  have  masses  for  given  objects,  such 
most  commonly  as  for  the  souls  of  the  dead,  and  the  souls 
of  founders  and  their  relatives.  But  the  masses  were 
sometimes  in  honor  of  the  holy  Trinity  or  the  virgin  Mary, 
or  particular  saints,  or  for  the  safety  of  travellers,  and  the  like. 
These  proebendae  simplices,  whose  possessors  were  not  mem 
bers  of  the  chapter,  were  supported  from  a  sum  of  money 
once  for  all  given  to  the  church,  from  presents  of  goods  and 
fields,  from  fixed  yearly  revenues  from  lands  exempt  from 
taxes,  and  kindred  resources.  For  these  many  masses,  the 
churches  had  also  many  altars ;  the  number  of  which  de 
pended  upon  the  call  for  their  use.  The  clergy  were  called 
altarists,  who,  for  a  certain  price,  performed  the  mass  at  cer 
tain  altars,  with  the  exception  of  settled  prebends. 

Not  only  the  cathedrals,  but  other  large  churches  of  the 
towns,  had  prebends ;  yet  merely  as  special  establishments. 
Thus  the  churches  of  St.  Nicholas,  St.  Ilenrik,  St.  Christo 
pher,  St.  John  at  Stockholm,  had  many  prebends.  The  pre 
bendaries,  at  least  some,  were  appointed  by  the  burgomaster 
and  council.  The  church  of  the  city  of  Kahnar  had  also 
many  prebendaries ;  and  those  at  the  church  of  Lodose  were 
called  proebendati  and  altaristre.  The  same  may  be  said  of 
Wadstena. 

Except  in  the  smaller  churches  there  were  required  for 


24  HISTORY   OF   THE   ECCLESIASTICAL 

the  solemnization  of  divine  service,  basket  boys,  for  whose 
maintenance  sometimes  a  special  rate  or  tax  was  laid. 
were  scholars  of  the  cathedral  school,  and  were  brought  up 
there  for  the  service  of  the  church. 

We  are  not  enabled  to  give  an  accurate  and  full  enumera 
tion  of  the  provosts,  canons,  and  vicarite,  which  belonged  to 
each  of  the  old  seven  cathedrals  of  Sweden.  The  metropolitan 
church  of  Upsala  had,  according  to  a  schedule  which  can 
not  be  older  than  the  year  1531,  five  dignitaries:  the  pro 
vost,  the  dean,  the  archdeacon,  the  scholastics  and  cantor ; 
thirteen  canons  and  twenty  simple  prebends.  An  old  record 
assigns  to  this  church,  about  the  year  1500,  at  the  same 
lime,  a  provost,  archdeacon,  dean,  and  at  least  seventeen 
canons,  or  altogether,  at  least  twenty.  One  or  more  of  the 
canonries  had,  in  1527,  ceased,  from  a  return  to  the  estates 
of  the  original  donors  of  the  incomes  which  had  been  appro 
priated  to  those  offices. 

The  diocese  of  Linkoping  vied  with  that  of  Upsala  in  the 
number  of  its  establishments  and  its  riches.  It  is  reported 
to  have  had  not  less  than  twenty-four  canons ;  among  whom, 
as  is  likely,  were  the  same  dignitaries  as  at  Upsala,  with 
fifteen  simple  prebends.  The  registry  of  Linkoping  for  the 
year  1543,  counts,  however,  merely  nineteen  canons  and 
twelve  simple  prebends. 

Of  the  church  of  Skara,  we  cannot  give  the  number  of 
dignitaries.  We  may,  however,  assume  that  in  this  church 
were  to  be  found  a  proepositus  or  provost,  archdeacon,  and 
dean ;  since,  in  certain  records,  we  find  these  dignitaries 
even  at  Striingncss,  Wcstcras,  and  Wexio.  How  many 
canons  and  simple  prebends  belonged  to  each  of  them  we  can 
not,  with  certainty,  tell,  except  that  the  registry  of  Striingness 
counts,  besides  its  dignitaries,  twelve  prebends;  and  that 
Wexio,  besides  its  canons,  had,  in  the  year  1527,  ten  cross 
bearers  of  the  clergy. 

For  Abo  there  are  given  twelve  canons,  with  but  two  dig- 


REFORMATION   IN    SWEDEN.  25 

nltaries,  though  an  indefinitely  largo  number  of  simple  preb 
ends.  Lund,  the  metropolitan  church  of  Denmark,  far  ex 
ceeded  the  Sees  of  Sweden  in  the  number  of  her  canons  and 
simple  prebends.  It  had,  at  the  period  of  the  Reformation, 
four  dignitaries — a  provost,  dean,  archbishop,  and  cantori- 
um  ;  thirty  canons  and  forty  vicars. 

The  hierarchy  was  specially  represented  through  these 
offices  and  establishments,  which,  around  the  bishop,  the 
shepherd  of  the  see  in  the  apostle's  chair,  labored  for  the 
welfare  of  the  diocese,  and  building  up  of  the  parish  clergy, 
who  were  yet  for  the  most  part  limited  to  a  training  in  church 
usages,  and  outward  demeanor  in  its  offices,  and  an  acquaint 
ance  in  ecclesiastical  services.  They  were,  in  particular,  ha 
bituated  to  the  solemnities  proper  in  the  divine  service  of  the 
cathedral.  This  structure  was  the  visible  image  of  the  strength 
and  riches  of  the  hierarchy,  and  of  the  attitude  of  the 
church.  It  was  considered  as  the  stock  and  stay  of  the  par 
ish  churches  in  the  diocese,  within  whose  circuit  was  the 
bishop's  throne,  encompassed  by  dignitaries  and  canons,  and 
other  priests  apart  from  the  position  of  laymen.  Around 
the  altars  of  the  church  was  a  clergy,  who,  like  the  parish 
priest,  according  to  the  hierarchical  idea,  represented  the 
bishop,  and  took  charge  of  the  parish  churches  as  imperfect 
establishments  for  the  performance  of  divine  service,  which, 
in  the  cathedral,  was  celebrated  on  the  canonical  seasons ; 
the  church  sounding  and  glittering  with  pomp,  with  many 
masses,  with  its  numerous  crosses  and  altars.  At  the  cathe 
dral,  the  hierarchy,  in  a  word,  appeared  as  representing  the 
church  on  earth.  Laymen  were  not  necessary  for  public 
worship.  Even  if  these  were  absent,  the  church  still  cele 
brated,  by  the  offering  of  the  flesh  of  Christ  in  the  holy 
communion,  by  the  praises  of  God  and  the  saints,  and  by 
intercessions  and  prayers,  the  victory  of  the  atoning  sacri 
fice,  and  the  union  of  the  church  on  earth  with  that  in 
heaven. 

2 


26  HISTORY'    OF   THE   ECCLESIASTICAL 

A  splendid  cathedral  structure  was  the  glory  of  the  hie 
rarchy  ;  and  the  cathedrals,  which  still  stand  in  the  old  sees, 
were  all,  though  often  reconstructed  after  suffering  damage 
by  fire,  or  enlarged  beyond  their  first  dimensions,  completed 
before  the  Reformation.  The  oldest  of  those  that  are  cer 
tainly  known  to  be  old,  is  that  of  Lund,  consecrated  in  1145. 
The  age  of  the  cathedral  at  Wexio,  is  unknown.  That  at 
Skara  was  consecrated  in  about  the  year  1150  ;  that  at 
Westeras,  in  1271  :  that  at  Striingness,  in  1291  ;  and  that  at 
Abo  in  1300,  or  near  it.  The  present  cathedral  of  Upsala 
was  consecrated  in  1435.  The  time  of  the  consecration  of 
that  at  Linkoping  is  not  with  certainty  known.  Its  comple 
tion  took  place  about  the  year  1490.  Most  of  them  had 
been  worked  on  for  centuries. 

3.— THE  CHURCITS  WEALTH  AXD  OUTWARD  POWER. 

EVEN  the  kingdom  which  is  not  of  this  world,  when  it 
advances  into  external  organization,  requires  that  which  is 
necessary  to  the  stability  of  every  constitution  of  human 
society,  and  to  render  it  independent  of  fluctuating  caprice. 
God's  word  needs  not  the  aid  of  men,  or  of  worldly  things  ; 
but  men  themselves  stand  in  need  of  giving  a  true  defence 
against  their  own  inconstancy,  their  own  wilfulness,  their 
own  passions.  This  is  humanity's  ennobled,  voluntary 
offering,  whereby,  in  order  to  insure  firmly  the  preaching  of 
the  word  and  the  practice  of  divine  worship,  the  proclaimers 
of  the  word  are  protected  from  the  temptation  of  preaching 
it  with  an  eye  to  man's  favor,  whereby  the  proclaiming  of 
the  word  itself  is  secured,  even  should  a  time-serving  com 
plaisance  make  men  for  a  while  unwilling  to  hear. 

But  it  is  the  part  of  human  folly,  by  excess,  to  frustrate 
what  is  good.  An  excess  in  what  is  good  in  itself,  runs  on, 
till  the  ruin  which  follows  must  be  checked  or  amended. 
The  church  has  no  less  to  beware  of  having  too  much,  than 
of  having  nothing  of  worldly  things.  They  who  enjoy  the 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  27 

advantage  of  the  church's  goods,  must  take  care,  that  the 
church  looks  not  solely  to  the  kingdom  of  this  world. 

The  Western  church  had  already  begun  to  yield  to  this 
temptation,  when  Christianity  was  first  preached  in  Sweden. 
She  was  already  deeply  sunk,  when  she  stretched  her  re 
maining  power  over  the  Swedish  people.  The  wealth  which 
the  needs  of  the  church  called  forth  had,  by  the  accumu 
lated  benefactions  of  centuries,  made  her  an  earthly  power. 

After  the  church  became  fully  established  in  its  external 
form,  the  Swedish  people  paid  tithes,  of  which  the  parish 
priest  had  a  third ;  which  is  still  assigned  to  the  clergy  out 
of  the  corn  produce,  and,  besides  this,  out  of  the  root  and 
pod  fruits,  and  the  domestic  cattle.  The  church,  the  bishop, 
and  the  poor,  divided  the  remainder ;  either  so  that  each  had 
a  third,  or  in  unequal  proportions,  as  might  be  customary  in 
different  places.  The  application  of  the  tithes,  called  tithes 
for  the  poor,  was  made  by  the  bishop,  sometimes  as  a  con 
tribution  to  hospitals,  to  the  support  of  poor  scholars,  to 
the  building  of  cathedrals,  and  lastly  to  the  canons. 

After  the  kings  began  with  zeal  to  embrace  Christianity, 
their  spirit  engaged  them  to  build  churches,  according  to  the 
fashion  which  the  habits  of  the  times  required,  and  to  enrich 
them  with  gifts  and  money.  They,  as  well  as  private  per 
sons,  were  animated  thereto,  by  the  belief  in  the  meritori- 
ousness  of  such  liberality.  From  the  year  1200,  the  prop 
erty  of  the  church  became,  through  each  king's  renewed 
assurance  of  such  exemption,  free  from  tribute  to  the  crown, 
and  in  like  manner  the  fines  and  suits  of  the  tenants  of  these 
estates  followed  the  condition  of  those  to  whom  the  estates 
belonged. 

To  give  an  accurate  account  of  the  number  and  sum  total 
of  the  lands  and  rents  which,  in  the  year  1520,  were  in  the 
church's  possession ;  of  what  belonged  to  the  bishop,  the 
cathedral,  and  other  churches,  with  their  priests,  canons,  and 
prebends,  is,  on  many  accounts,  difficult  or  impossible,  and 


28  1IISTOKY    OF   THE   ECCLESIASTICAL 

would  not  for  us  be  of  particular  interest,  But  when  we 
find  how  many  endowments  and  grants  belong  to  the  church 
of  Upsala ;  and  that,  under  control  of  the  bishop  of  Linko- 
ping,  were  more  than  six  hundred  greater  or  less  estates  and 
benefices ;  and  that,  in  Finland  and  Sweden,  the  estates  and 
manors  which  the  cathedral  of  Abo  and  its  head  possessed, 
amounted  to  more  than  four  hundred,  we  may  form  a  some 
what  accurate  idea  of  the  riches  of  the  church  in  Sweden. 

Besides  large  landed  estates,  each  bishop  had  a  fortified 
castle.  The  archbishop,  before  Stacket  was  destroyed,  had  a 
strong  palace  at  Upsala ;  the  bishop  of  Linkoping  one  at 
Norsborg ;  of  Skara,  at  Lecko  ;  of  Striingness,  at  Tynnelso ; 
of  AVesteras,  at  Granso ;  of  AVexio,  at  Kronoberg ;  of  Abo, 
at  Kusto. 

As  senators,  the  bishops  had  also  investitures  of  the  crown. 
In  this  manner  did  the  archbishop  of  Upsala,  about  the  year 
1500,  hold  AVesterbotten,  Oeland,  the  fief  of  Stacket,  thetown 
of  Upsala,  and  Nordmarken,  in  AVestgothland. 

A  report  of  the  military  service  of  all  the  untaxable 
lands  and  investitures,  rendered  at  the  diet  of  Stockholm,  in 
1526,  leaves  us,  if  we  have  rightly  understood  it,  a  sufficient 
acquaintance  with  the  bishop's  revenues,  in  proportion  to 
the  other  nobles  and  fief-holders  within  the  kingdom.  The 
knights,  bishops,  and  nobles,  were  obliged,  for  every  four 
hundred  marks  rent,  to  maintain  six  able-bodied  men.  The 
archbishop  was  to  keep  fifty  men ;  the  bishop  of  Linkoping, 
thirty-six  ;  of  Skara,  thirty  ;  of  Striingness,  twenty ;  of  AVes- 
teras,  ten  ;  of  Wexio,  ten.  Among  the  occupants  of  the  lay- 
lands  exempt  from  taxes,  or  fiefs,  the  highest  number  given 
is  twenty-four ;  another  has  fourteen  ;  two  have  twelve ;  one 
ten ;  and  the  rest  under  that  number.  The  number  of  men 
to  be  raised  amounts  to  the  sum  of  441 ;  of  whom  156  were 
to  be  raised  by  the  bishops,  though  the  domestic  revenue  of 
the  bishop  of  Westerns  was  already  considerably  diminished. 
When  each  ton  or  sixteen  barrels  of  rye  and  corn  was  valued 


REFORMATION   INT    SWEDEN.  29 

at  sixteen  marks,  of  the  return  in  rye  and  corn,  3,333  bar 
rels  were  reckoned  to  the  archbishop  of  Upsala ;  2,400  to 
the  bishop  of  Linkoping;  2,000  to  Skara;  1,333  to  Strang- 
ness,  and  666  to  the  respective  bishops  of  "Westeras  and 
"YVexio.  To  all  this  should  further  be  added,  the  special 
bishop's  tithes,  the  suits,  the  tributes  from  priests  and  parish 
ioners  at  visitations,  and  many  other  sources  of  income,  not 
to  be  classed  under  the  denomination  of  lands  exempt  from 
taxes  and  investitures  of  the  crown. 

We  do  not  positively  assert,  but  have  reason  to  believe, 
that  from  1522  the  newly-consecrated  bishops  did  not  re 
ceive  the  investitures  of  which  we  have  spoken.  Bishop 
Brask,  in  1524,  delivered  up  the  district  of  Gullberg.  Their 
chief  possessions  then  consisted  in  the  lands  exempt  from 
taxes ;  and  if,  to  the  goods  and  estates  which  appertained  to 
the  support  of  the  bishop's  table,  we  add  the  goods  belonging 
to  churches  and  canons,  the  domestic  incomes  of  the  priests, 
and  their  glebes,  the  report  of  king  Gustavus,  in  1527, 
"  that  the  crown  and  nobility  together  hardly  had  here  in 
the  kingdom  a  third  part  of  what  the  priests,  monks, 
churches,  and  monasteries  had,"  will  not  appear  too  much 
exaggerated. 

The  unequal  wealth  of  the  sees  at  this  time,  appears  from 
the  circumstance,  that  in  the  diet  of  the  same  year,  the  clergy 
took  upon  themselves  to  raise  a  tax  of  15,000  marks  for  the 
whole  country  ;  which  was  so  proportioned,  that  the  clergy 
of  the  diocese  of  Upsala  were  to  pay  4,000  ;  of  Linkoping, 
2,500  ;  of  Abo,  3,000  ;  of  Skara,  2,000  ;  of  Westeras,  1,000  ; 
and  of  Wexio,  500  marks. 

The  question  naturally  arises,  when  we  reflect  upon  the 
large  incomes  of  the  bishgps,  how  were  those  incomes  em 
ployed  ?  The  employment  of  them  depended,  in  a  great 
measure,  upon  the  constitutional  temperament  of  the  occu 
pant  of  the  see.  The  customs  of  the  times  and  current  ideas 
presented  many  unavoidable  demands  and  difficult  tempta- 


30  HISTORY    OP   TUE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

lions.  The  latter  part  of  the  middle  ages  was  fond  of  pomp 
and  state,  and  required  them  as  emblems  of  might  and  power. 
The  bishops  yielded,  for  the  most  part,  to  this  passion,  and 
surrounded  themselves  with  a  court,  as  did  the  grandees  and 
feudal  lords.  The  temptation  grew  stronger,  as1  the  appre 
hension  of  the  invisible  church  retired  from  view.  The 
disorder  and  mutability  of  the  times,  the  spirit  of  self-revenge 
which  often  defied  the  laws,  and  to  which,  among  men  that 
only  submitted  murmuringly  to  the  church's  firmness,  the 
bishops  must  be  peculiarly  exposed,  obliged  them  to  be  sur 
rounded  with  a  life-guard.  A  law  of  the  country  allowed 
the  archbishop  to  ride  over  the  king's  land  with  forty,  and 
his  suffragan  bishops  with  thirty  followers,  and  not  more. 
How  large  a  train  the  bishops  might  have  in  their  official 
journeys  within  their  sees,  was  not  expressly  determined  by 
law,  but  it  thence  became  soon  necessary  to  fix  the  impost 
on  which  the  priests  and  parishioners  might  relieve  them 
selves  from  the  exactions  the  bishops  might  otherwise  make. 
In  the  year  1527,  the  archbishop  elect,  John  Magnus,  was  to 
have  had  on  his  visitation  of  the  diocese  a  train  of  two  hun 
dred  persons.  Bishop  Otto  Svinhufvud,  of  Westerns  (who 
died  in  1522),  is  said  never  to  have  traveled  with  less  than 
sixty  courtiers ;  and  in  1527,  bishop  Brask,  of  Linkoping, 
had  forty  armed  men  with  him  at  the  diet  of  Westeras.  Be 
sides  this,  the  fortified  castles  and  the  bishop's  court  were 
furnished  with  a  garrison  sufficient  for  their  defence. 

That  these  incomes  were,  however,  sometimes  applied  to 
the  claims  of  Christianity,  in  conformity  to  the  purpose  of 
the  charities  bestowed  for  that  object,  and  which  in  the  later 
centuries  were  encouraged,  cannot  be  denied.  The  piety  of 
many  bishops,  and  their  liberality  for  the  promotion  of  a 
higher  condition  of  religion,  have  left  sufficient  evidence. 

It  is  natural  that  the  church  should  possess,  in  the  civil 
community,  a  strong  influence.  This  was  not  merely  a  con 
sequence  of  the  energy  of  Christianity,  and  the  superior  char- 


REFORMATION   IN    SWEDEN.  31 

acter  which  belonged  to  the  men  of  the  church,  of  whom  a 
bishop  or  other  dignitary  was  always  the  king's  chancellor. 
But  the  bishops  and  prelates  had,  in  an  indefinite  number,  a 
seat  in  the  councils  of  the  kingdom,  and  took  among  the 
lords  of  the  council  the  first  place.  To  the  council,  the  arch 
bishop  was  self-summoned.  Between  the  legislation  of  the 
church  and  state  there  was  sometimes  a  contest. 

The  temporal  power  of  the  church  was  in  continual  in 
crease,  when  she  did  not  herself  lose  or  dissipate  her  prop 
erty  and  dependencies.  By  purchase,  by  mortgages,  by 
gifts  and  legacies,  which  the  principles  of  the  times  encour 
aged,  her  possessions  perpetually  rose  in  extent  and  value. 
In  respect  to  testamentary  devises,  the  church  had  the  maxim, 
that  every  one  could  of  his  fortune  give  the  church  a  princi 
pal  part,  or,  as  was  the  mode  of  expression,  that  he  who  had 
one  heir,  could  make  Christ  the  other ;  he  who  had  two 
heirs,  could  make  Christ  the  third.  But  ori  the  side  of  the 
civil  society  it  became  necessary  to  limit  this  maxim  still 
further ;  and  after  many  different  ordinances  in  various  pro 
vincial  codes,  and  manifold  contorts  between  the  clergy  and 
people,  it  became  a  law  of  the  land,  in  the  time  of  king 
Christopher,  that  without  consent  of  the  heir  no  man  should, 
for  the  good  of  his  soul,  give  more  than  a  tenth  of  the  patri 
mony  ;  but  of  acquired  property  he  might  give  as  much  as 
he  pleased. 

Concerning  the  patrimony  of  the  clergy,  respecting  which 
there  were  various  decrees  in  the  provincial  codes,  it  was 
ordered  in  a  provincial  council  at  Arboga,  in  1474,  as  also 
in  a  like  council  at  Soderkoping,  that  the  clergy  could  freely 
dispose  of  their  property  ;  but  if  they  died  without  a  legal 
testament,  their  goods  and  chattels  should  be  divided  into 
three  parts — one  of  which  should  belong  to  the  poor,  par 
ticularly  scholars  ;  another  to  the  heirs  ;  and  the  third,  with 
consent  of  the  bishop  and  chapter,  was  employed  for  the  soul 
of  the  deceased.  The  patrimony  of  a  native  devolved,  half 


32  HISTORY    OF   THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

to  the  king,  hall*  to  the  good  of  the  deceased  man's  soul.  In 
the  patrimony  of  the  clergy,  the  bishop  had  the  same  right 
us  the  king. 

A  source  of  revenue  for  the  bishops  was  the  fines  which, 
in  many  cases  of  trespass,  fell  to  them.  As  long  as  society 
was  not  wholly  Christianized,  the  church's  legislation  and 
administration  of  justice,  were  wholly  independent  of  the 
civil  law.  But  after  the  civil  law  began  to  avenge  the 
breach  of  morality  and  good  order,  which  before  it  had  dis 
regarded,  legislation  and  the  administration  of  justice  were 
exercised  by  both  the  church  and  the  state  ;  and  the  guilty 
were  amerced  in  fines  to  both  the  king  and  the  bishop. 
The  sergeant  of  the  district  sued  for  the  breach,  and  collected 
the  fines  which  the  .law  assigned  to  the  bishop.  This  ser 
geant  was  sometimes  the  district  provost,  sometimes  a  mem 
ber  of  the  chapter,  sometimes  a  man  specially  appointed. 
The  law  of  the  land  enumerates  the  cases  when  the  fines  fell 
to  the  bishop ;  such  as  affiance,  marriage,  excommunication, 
usury,  and  disrespect  to  holy  days,  and  all  matters  which 
could  be  regarded  as  properly  belonging  to  the  church's 
legislation.  There  naturally  belonged  to  the  bishop  all  fines 
adjudged  by  the  spiritual  court  before  which  a  priest  could 
be  impeached.  Beside  these,  there  followed,  usually  with 
investiture,  the  right  of  collecting  within  the  fief  even  all  the 
king's  fines.  In  conclusion,  it  may  be  observed,  that  the 
grants  to  the  church  were  not  always  settled  on  the  cathe 
dral  and  bishop,  but  on  certain  canons  or  prebends,  on  parish 
churches,  or  on  the  tables  of  the  clergy,  on  hospitals,  and 
monasteries,  and  corporations. 

4.— MONASTERIES. 

THE  first  missionaries  of  Christianity  to  Sweden  were 
monks.  How  many  afterward  came  hither,  or  how  they 
lived  ;  whether  any  societies  of  monks  existed,  other  than  the 
regular  canons,  who  belonged  to  some  cathedral,  is  not 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  33 

known.  As  far  as  is  known  with  certainty,  the  twelfth  cen 
tury  saw  the  commencement  of  monastic  institutions  within 
the  land. 

At  this  time,  when  the  Christian  church  also  began  to 
gain  stability,  the  rule  of  St.  Benedict,  which,  at  that  time, 
in  its  main  features,  was  the  pattern  for  the  monasteries 
of  the  West,  had,  after  many  reforms,  acquired  special  re 
gard  through  the  improvements  made  at  the  monastery  of 
Citeaux  ;  and  this  order,  called  Cistercians,  became  renowned 
in  St.  Bernard,  the  abbot  of  Clairvaux.  To  him,  king 
Swerker  and  his  consort  made  application  to  send  monks  to 
Sweden,  who  came  in  1144,  and  first  settled  in  Alvastra  and 
Warnhem. 

Some  time  after,  in  the  beginning  of  the  thirteenth  cen 
tury,  when  in  Southern  and  Western  Europe  the  then  exist 
ing  frame  of  the  church  did  not  satisfy  the  hunger  and  thirst 
after  God's  word,  and  the  life  which  comes  of  God,  and 
occasioned  many  (partly  real,  partly  fancied)  disorders,  the 
monastic  institution  assumed  a  new  aspect,  according  to  the 
spirit  of  the  times.  Preaching  and  the  care  of  souls  became 
the  chief  object ;  and  there  was  now  intercourse  with  the 
people.  For,  the  monks,  before  they  were  called  to  the  mis 
sionary  work  and  the  offices  of  the  church,  lived  for  the  most 
part  solitary,  in  their  cloisters ;  and  their  influence  was  ex 
erted  through  the  example  of  their  lives,  and  the  schools 
within  the  convent,  where  the  youth  were  received  and 
instructed.  These  were  supported  out  of  the  incomes  which 
the  monasteries  had  from  their  property.  The  monasteries 
were  called  rent  cloisters.  Those  who  went  about  to  preach 
the  word,  and  hear  confessions,  lived  on  the  alms  given 
them ;  because,  according  to  the  example  of  Christ's  disci 
ples,  they  were  to  carry  nothing  with  them,  and  the  laborer 
is  wrorthy  of  his  hire.  Out  of  these  alms  the  monasteries, 
as  well  as  their  inhabitants,  were  maintained  ;  and  they  even 
thus  became  rich.  The  monasteries  were  termed  alms- 

2* 


34  IIISTOKY    OF   THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

cloisters ;  the  monks  alms-monks,  or  brethren  of  the  bag. 
Their  efficiency  was  of  very  wide  extent.  From  the  pope 
they  had  obtained  permission  to  erect  moveable  altars ;  and 
they  often  possessed,  in  the  parish,  their  own  house  and  dom- 
icil.  But  when  their  superior  activity  awakened  the  ill  will 
of  the  parish  priests,  their  freedom  of  preaching  was  re 
strained  ;  and  at  a  provincial  diet  at  Arboga,  in  1474,  their 
moveable  altars  were  prohibited,  and  they  were  ordered, 
within  half  a  year,  to  give  up  the  domicils  they  owned  out 
side  their  monasteries,  and  which  commonly  were  situated 
in  the  towns. 

The  Dominicans  and  Franciscans,  the  genuine  begging 
orders,  settled  themselves  in  Sweden  in  the  first  half  of  the 
thirteenth  century. 

The  monastic  institution  soon  spread  over  the  middle  and 
southern  parts  of  Sweden,  through  the  munificence  of  the 
kings  and  private  individuals ;  a  munificence  called  forth  by 
the  spirit  of  the  age,  by  the  desire  to  participate  in  the  good 
deeds  of  the  monks,  and  to  receive  the  benefit  of  the  in 
dulgences  which  were  communicated  in  return  for  gifts. 

At  the  commencement  of  the  sixteenth  century  there 
stood,  within  our  fatlicrland,  without  taking  into  account  the 
schemes  commenced  but  not  completed,  or  those  abandoned, 
or  those  of  which  there  is  no  certainty,  the  following  mon 
asteries  : 

In  the  diocese  of  Upsala,  the  begging  monks  had  espe 
cially  diffused  themselves.  The  Dominicans  had,  at  Sigtuna, 
their  oldest  and  most  considerable  monastery,  whose  prior 
appears  to  have  been  often  provincial  over  Sweden,  Den 
mark,  and  Norway.  The  last  prior  and  vicar-general  of  the 
order  in  Sweden  was  Martin  Skytte,  afterward  protestant 
bishop  of  Abo.  The  order  had  also  establishments  in  Stock 
holm.  The  Franciscans  had  monasteries  in  Upsala,  and  at 
Stockholm,  the  popular  monastery  on  a  holm  called  after 
them,  the  holm  of  grey  monks,  and  a  convent  for  nuns, 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  35 

called  the  order  of  St.  Clare,  founded  by  Magnus  Ladulas, 
at  Norrmalm,  where  his  daughter  was  subsequently  abbess. 
At  Enkoping  also,  there  was  founded  a  monastery  of  this 
order. 

Of  the  rent  cloisters,  the  Cistercian  nuns  had,  within  this 
see,  Skokloster  and  Malaren,  devoted  to  an  abbess  and 
twelve  pure  maids. 

When  we  pass  to  the  see  of  Linkoping,  therje  first  meets 
us  the  monastery  of  Wadsten,  by  St.  Bridas  or  Bridget, 
who  founded  the  rule  for  the  order  of  our  Saviour,  of  which 
this  was  the  chief  seat,  and  the  sanctity  of  whose  daugh 
ters  of  St.  Catherine  was  the  most  memorable  in  the  North. 
St.  Bridget,  extraordinarily  respected  and  honored  as  a  saint, 
raised  the  importance  of  the  monastic  institution  among  the 
Swedish  people  ;  and  a  contribution  was  ordered  by  king 
Albrect,  to  be  paid  it  by  every  Swedish  peasant.  At  its 
consecration,  in  1384,  were  installed  forty-six  virgins  and 
sixteen  brothers.  The  establishment  was  estimated  for  sixty 
sisters  and  twenty  brothers  ;  but  this  number  could  hardly 
have  been  filled.  Beside  the  site  at  "Wadsten,  it  had  pos 
sessions  in  all  the  old  provinces  of  Sweden  below  the  valley 
of  the  river. 

There  were,  moreover,  establishments  belonging  to  the 
Cistercian  order  in  the  same  see — the  magnificent  and  rich 
Alvastra,  the  family  burial-place  of  the  kings  of  Sweden. 
Four  hundred  and  thirty-eight  peasants  gave  scot  and  trib 
ute  to  the  monastery.  Nydala,  in  Smaland,  was  contempo 
raneous  with  Alvastra,  and  was  as  richly  endowed.  It  ex 
perienced  one  of  Christian  the  cruel' s  last  acts  of  violence, 
when,  in  1521,  he  left  Sweden.  He  caused  to  be  drowned, 
in  the  moat  of  the  convent,  the  abbot  and  eleven  monks. 
Bishop  Brask  consecrated  a  new  abbot.  There  were  con 
vents  for  nuns  of  the  same  order  at  Wreta,  known  for  its 
king's  graves,  and  at  Askaby,  both  amply  endowed.  Askaby 
had  seventy-eight  farms  in  East  Gothland.  In  the  year 


36  1IISTOKY    OF   T1IE   ECCLESIASTICAL 

1462,  this  convent  was  tenanted  by  an  abbess  and  nineteen 
sisters. 

The  Dominicans  had,  in  this  see,  two  considerable  mon 
asteries  at  Skeninge,  and  two  at  Kalmar,  and  a  convent  for 
monks,  and  one  for  nuns,  in  each  town.  Both  of  those  for 
nuns  were,  in  1504,  removed  to  Skeninge.  The  order  of  the 
Franciscans  had  monasteries  at  Linkoping,  Soderkoping,  and 
Jonkoping.  . 

In  the  diocese  of  Skara,  the  Cistercians  had  two  rich  and 
considerable  establishments  :  the  monastery  at  Warnhem,  the 
burial-place  of  king  Inge,  and  of  the  royal  family  of  St. 
Erik,  and  a  convent  for  nuns  at  Gudhcm.  Of  the  begging- 
orders,  the  Dominicans  had  a  monastery  at  Skara  and  at 
Lodose ;  the  Franciscans  only  at  Skara. 

The  diocese  of  Striingness  had  monasteries  of  more  orders 
than  any  other  in  old  Sweden.  To  the  Cistercians  belonged 
the  monastery  of  Juleta  or  Saba,  whose  last  abbot  was  con 
secrated  in  1522,  by  bishop  Brask.  The  Dominicans  had 
also  a  monastery  on  the  spot  where,  according  to  the  legends, 
St.  Eskil  suffered  martyrdom;  the  Franciscans  one  at 
Nykoping.  The  Johannists,  the  brothers  of  St.  Anthony, 
were  respectively  seated  at  Eskilstuna  and  Ramundaboda. 
The  Carthusians  had  their  sole  monastery  at  Mariefred, 
founded  by  archbishop  Jacob  Ulfsson  and  the  bishop  of 
Striingness,  Konrad  Roggos,  at  the  suggestion  of  Sten  Sture 
the  elder,  in  1491  ;  and  it  was  consecrated  in  1504,  the  day 
before  Sture's  burial  there,  by  Jacob  Ulfsson,  who  there  also 
spent  most  of  his  time  after  he  had  laid  down  his  office. 
This  was,  of  the  Swedish  monasteries,  the  last  founded  and 
the  first  suppressed.  The  Carmelites  had  a  monastery  at 
Orebro,  remarkable  from  the  tradition,  that  the  brothers 
Olaus  and  Laurentius  Petri  there  had  their  characters 
formed." 

In  Westerns  stood,  after  148G,  the  monastery  of  Ilusaby 
or  Gudbcrga,  belonging  to  the  Cistercians,  and  another  at 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  37 

Koping,  of  the  same  order.  The  Dominicans  had,  at  Wes- 
teras,  a  monastery,  whose  last  prior  was  made  dean  of  the 
chapter  at  that  place  by  king  G-ustavus.  One  of  its  last 
monks  was  promoted  to  be  bishop  of  the  see.  At  Arboga 
the  Franciscans  had  a  rich  monastery. 

The  see  of  Wexio  had  in  its  capital  a  monastery  of  grey 
friars.  In  the  diocese  of  Abo,  St.  Bridget's  order,  or  the 
monastery  at  Wadsteii  had,  at  Nodendal,  its  sole  family 
within  the  present  Sweden.  It  was  established  "  specially 
for  preaching,  confession,  and  the  grant  of  indulgences,  as 
there  to  be  had  more  pure  than  in  other  orders."  The  Cis 
tercians  and  Dominicans  also  had  establishments  in  this 
see. 

To  complete  our  view,  should  be  added  the  monasteries 
which  lay  within  the  provinces  that,  at  the  time  of  the  Refor 
mation,  belonged  to  Denmark  and  Norway,  and  had  not 
disappeared  at  the  change  made  in  the  Swedish  church. 

Gotland,  which  lay  in  the  diocese  of  Linkoping,  had  two 
rich  Cistercian  establishments  :  the  monastery  of  Gudvalla 
extended  beyond  the  wall  of  Wisby  ;  and  a  convent  for  nuns, 
with  a  monastery  for  black,  and  another  for  grey  friars, 
within  the  town. 

The  rich  and  widely-extended  diocese  of  Lund  had  a 
great  many  monasteries.  The  Benedictines,  older  than  the 
Cistercians,  had  one  at  Lund,  and  nunneries  at  Bosjo  and 
Boringe.  Beside  a  monastery  at  Lund,  the  monks  of  Cluni 
had  establishments  at  Herrevad  in  Skane,  and  at  Acs  in 
Halland.  The  Augustinians  were  seated  at  Dalby ;  the 
Carmelites  in  Landskrona ;  the  Premonstratenses  in  Bekas- 
kog ;  the  Dominicans  in  Lund,  and  many  other  places. 

In  the  fief  of  Bonus,  under  the  see  of  Opslo,  lay  the 
cloister  of  the  Premonstratenses,  at  Draksmark.  The  Augus 
tinians  were  seated  at  Kastelle  ;  the  Franciscans  in  Kongelf ; 
the  last  named  being  but  little  known. 

Of  a  different  description  from  the  monastic  institutions 


38  HISTORY    OF   THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

were  the  guilds  or  brotherhoods,  which,  during  the  latter 
part  of  the  middle  ages,  were  counted  in  great  numbers  ;  so 
that  not  only  every  town  had  many,  but  also  in  the  country 
parishes  were  they  to  be  found.  They  were  sometimes  for 
priests,  sometimes  for  laymen,  and  most  often  were  made  up 
of  both.  They  were  properly  societies  within  the  civil  com 
mon wealth,  directing  their  views  to  a  mutual  protection  and 
aid  in  council  and  support,  and  to  mutual  pleasure  and 
cheerfulness.  But  they  belonged  to  the  church,  in  respect 
of  being  named  after  the  Saviour,  or  the  Virgin  Mary,  or 
one  of  the  saints,  under  whose  patronage  they  put  them 
selves,  and  of  having  masses  together,  and  for  the  souls  of 
their  deceased  members.  They  had  also  their  large  property 
in  common. 

In  conclusion  might  here  at  least  be  mentioned  pious 
establishments,  holy  houses  and  hospitals,  formed  into  a 
brotherhood  at  a  time  when  security  was  not  to  be  had  from 
the  sole  protection  of  the  law.  Such  was  the  union  for  aid 
of  the  sick  and  the  poor  formed  into  a  brotherhood,  at  Up- 
sala,  which  appointed  two  clergymen  and  a  layman  to  attend 
to  that  duty.  To  these  unions  also  belonged  considerable 
wealth. 

i 
5.— CHARACTER  AND   MORAL  CONDITION. 

THE  differing  opinions  which  have  been  pronounced,  in 
respect  to  the  character  and  morality  of  the  Swedish  people, 
when,  on  the  one  hand,  the  middle  ages  are  accused,  and  on 
the  other  king  Gustavus  is  condemned,  incite  us,  in  order  to 
present  the  reform  of  the  church  in  its  true  light,  to  devote 
a  brief  examination  to  what  the  condition  of  things  was,  at 
the  time  the  Reformation  began. 

The  message  of  Christ  which  first  went  forth  to  contend 
with  and  vanquish  paganism  around  the  shores  of  the  Med 
iterranean,  and  within  the  limits  of  the  Eoman  empire,  had 


REFORMATION   IN    SWEDEN.  39 

developed  itself  in  a  high  grade  of  culture.  From  failure, 
however,  in  that  precept  of  love  which  requires  the  effort  to 
ennoble  all  men,  it  harbored  deeply  in  its  bosom  stolidity  and 
ignorance.  In  the  course  of  its  development,  there  had 
arisen  an  internal  canker  which  began  its  ruinous  work,  and 
brought  into  the  hearts  of  men  principles  of  skepticism  and 
irreligion,  requiring  for  fallen  humanity  a  fresh  manifestation 
of  the  truth. 

Christianity,  in  its  collision  with  science  and  the  form  of 
civil  society,  must  regulate  its  course  accordingly.  It  must 
either  exhibit  its  vitality  in  bloom  and  fruit,  or  surrender  its 
claim  to  be  for  a  lost  world  the  power  of  a  new  birth.  Individ 
uals  may  and  ought  to  accommodate  themselves  to  established 
relations,  as  long  as  these  do  not  interrupt  their  inward  life 
in  God ;  but  it  is  natural  that  if  new  views,  new  laws  and 
practices,  influence  the  spiritual  life  of  individuals,  they 
should  advance  into  the  framework  and  civilization  of  hu 
man  society,  and  that,  too,  in  proportion  as  they  strike  deeper 
and  broader  their  roots  in  the  hearts  of  the  people. 

The  contest  of  Christianity  with  Greek  and  Roman  pagan 
ism,  resulted  in  the  benefit  of  an  extended  chain  of  ideas,  and 
in  a  settled  frame  of  society.  But  while  these  were  based 
upon  an  obedience  to  the  church,  and  grew  out  of  the  seed 
of  the  Divine  word,  they  also  partook  of  the  spirit  of  that 
which  had  been  fought  and  vanquished.  They  imbibed 
something  of  the  characteristics  of  the  soil  on  which  they  re 
posed.  These  characteristics  disappeared  in  proportion  as 
the  church  displayed  her  excellence ;  and  the  laws  and  ordi 
nances  which  in  the  first  ages  rescued  the  church  from  a 
relapse  into  paganism,  could  only  preserve  their  sanction  by 
a  living  principle  within  the  church,  and  by  an  authority 
which  promoted  unbounded  submission.  When  Christianity 
was  introduced  into  a  nation,  if  it  had,  like  Athens,  Alex 
andria,  and  Rome,  all  the  pantheism  and  polytheism  of 
paganism,  its  science  and  popular  belief  stood  proportiona- 


40  HISTORY   OF   THE   ECCLESIASTICAL 

bly  in  need  ot  being  rooted  out.  The  preaching  of  the  gospel 
in  the  northern  parts  of  Europe,  brought  along  with  it  the 
patriarchal  authority  of  Home,  and  the  weapons,  though 
lessened  in  strength,  of  the  Grecian  learning,  the  Latin 
tongue,  and  the  Roman  dominion. 

The  living  spirit  of  the  church,  the  Holy  Ghost,  could 
still  give  a  victory  over  the  world  ;  and  the  piety  and  self- 
sacrifice  of  the  missionaries,  which  opened  the  path  for 
Christianity  in  our  own  and  adjacent  lands,  merit  our  esteem 
and  gratitude.  But  when  their  labors  had  prepared  the  way 
of  the  Gospel  and  givcn^lrength  to  the  power  of  the  hie 
rarchy — when  it  was  no  longer  a  question  whether  Christi 
anity  should  be  embraced — the  people  were  ready  not  only  to 
accept  what  was  conformable  with  Scripture,  but  whatever 
was  strange  or  new,  and  above  their  comprehension  or  gen 
eral  culture.  This  could  only  be  received  through  a  Hind 
faith,  such  as  the  church  permitted ;  declaring  that  for  the 
individual  it  was  only  necessary  to  believe  what  the  church 
believes,  but  that  she  was  not  obliged  to  make  herself  or 
another  clearly  understand  that  truth.  To  render  it  clear, 
there  must  be  a  previous  inoculation  in  the  old  Greek  and 
Roman  literature.  This  basis,  however,  of  their  own  sys 
tem,  had,  within  the  church's  hierarchy  itself,  become  ener 
vated  and  obsolete  ;  and  the  church  had  advanced  not  so 
much  in  opposition  to  paganism,  as  to  the  church's  own 
declarations,  and  in  the  prevalence  of  principles  which  those 
declarations,  with  their  practical  cifccts,  were  designed  to 
exclude. 

The  faith  which  was  preached  among  this  people  was  not 
the  simple  world- vanquish  ing  faith  which  was  sown  among 
those  who  .constituted  the  first  Christian  church.  The  apos 
tles  of  what  was  taught  were  not  merely  the  apostles  of 
Christ  ;  they  were  the  apostles  not  less  of  Rome.  The 
question  was  not  concerning  the  Holy  Scripture,  but  of  the 
whole  doctrine  of  Rome.  Our  people  had  not  begun  with 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  41 

the  beginning  of  Christianity.  Their  advancement  in 
knowledge,  the  arts,  and  frame  of  society,  was  the  search 
after  the  foundation ;  a  return,  not  a  going  on  to  something 
beyond.  They  missed  and  regretted  in  their  historic  life  the 
beginning  of  Christianity.  Their  search  was  anxious,  of 
long  duration,  and  foreboding.  The  reward  of  search  came 
through  the  newly  awakened,  recent  acquaintance  with  the 
service  of  Greek  and  Roman  literature.  The  opposition  be 
tween  Christianity  and  paganism  became  clearer.  The  spirit 
ual  culture,  when  it  became  strong  enough  to  investigate  the 
Holy  volume,  and  the  early  annals  of  the  church ;  when  it 
desired  to  embrace  Christianity  in  its  life-giving  truth,  resulted 
in  a  revival  of  the  true  spirit  of  the  gospel,  in  the  Reforma 
tion,  and  in  Protestantism. 

That  the  Reformation  passed  successfully  and  specially 
through  those  lands  wnich  first  became  Christianized  after 
the  papacy  grew  strong,  either  less  stirred  or  retreating  in 
regions  where  the  church  was  established  during  the  first  cen 
turies,  seems  to  indicate,  that  Christian  truth  and  Christian 
life  struck  a  deeper  root  in  the  latter,  and  therefore  less 
needed  a  thorough  alteration,  while  the  former  stood  in  need 
*of  acquiring  the  truth  which  had  never  been  communicated 
to  them.  But  the  strength  of  the  hierarchy  was  the  greater 
the  nearer  to  its  centre  ;  and  its  influence  was  less  effective 
in  remoter  regions,  where  there  was  begun  the  resuscitation 
of  the  Christian  life.  The  hierarchy,  however,  did  not  at  first 
determine  to  stifle  this  life  ;  but  carefully  watched  it,  and,  in 
watching,  stood  in  the  way  of  its  development.  In  South 
ern  Europe  the  hierarchy  had,  through  its  own  false  aggran 
dizement,  withdrawn  the  life  of  faith  from  its  original  pur'ty  ; 
but  the  Reformation  was  there  comparatively  weak,  because 
its  necessity  was  less  acknowledged  ;  and  till  another  oppor 
tunity,  men  remained  content  with  such  a  degree  of  improve 
ment  in  the  church,  as  was  produced  by  the  deeper  reforming 
action  in  the  North.  As  in  the  thirteenth  century,  the 


42  HISTORY   OF   THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

intervention  of  begging  friars,  so  now  a  new  form  of  the 
monastic  institution  stepped  in  to  check  the  progress  of 
amendment  in  the  church.  "When  the  North  of  Europe, 
turning  from  the  papal  church  to  Christianity,  withdrew  from 
the  Roman  chair,  the  South  was  saved  to  it  by  the  order  of 
the  Jesuits. 

When  the  faith  of  Christianity  was  introduced  into  Swe 
den,  the  frame  of  it,  which  was  entirely  foreign  to  the  life 
and  tone  of  its  people,  did  not  win  acceptance.  Here,  how 
ever,  as  elsewhere,  was  established  the  almost  exclusive 
church,  and  it  spread  its  influence  even  to  those  who  did  not 
acknowledge  a  direct  obedience.  But  we  are  justified  in  the 
assertion,  that  the  spiritual  power,  combinedly  exercised  by 
the  ecclesiastical  and  civil  society  in  our  fatherland,  spread 
more  slowly  than  in  countries  to  the  south  of  us,  from  which 
it  was  hither  exported. 

The  means  by  which  it  spread  were  partly  through  our 
journeys  to  foreign  lands,  partly  through  early  teaching  and 
training. 

During  the  whole  of  the  middle  ages,  Sweden  stood  in  very- 
near  connection  with  Southern  Europe.  The  business  of  the 
church,  and,  according  to  the  ideas  and  habits  of  the  times, 
the  piety  of  individuals,  called  many  to  Rome.  There,  princes, 
and  even  bishops,  had  Swedish  representatives.  There,  the 
house  of  St.  Bridget,  appertaining  to  the  monastery  of  Wad- 
sten,  gave  entertainment  and  maintenance  to  such  monks  of 
Wadsten  as  should  seek  a  habitation  in  the  capital  of 
Western  Christendom.  There,  many,  shortly  before  the 
Reformation,  remained  for  some  years  ;  and  among  them, 
those  who,  in  Sweden,  were  its  active  agents,  as  Laurentius 
Andreae,  or  its  hinderance,  as  Hans  Brask.  But  not  only  was 
Rome  the  capital  and  seat  of  resort  for  those  who  sought 
improvement,  or  those  who,  by  a  stay  in  a  foreign  land,  were 
necessarily  subject  to  the  effects  of  the  culture  and  education 
they  received  there.  Pilgrimages  drew  many  to  the  South 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  43 

and  East,  and  in  return,  brought  also  many  foreigners  to  the 
native  land  of  St.  Bridget,  and  the  monastic  establishment 
renowned  for  her  piety.  Monasteries,  too,  of  the  same 
order,  in  various  lands,  furthered  an  easy  exchange  of  both 
people  and  manners  ;  and  the  universities  invited  into  their 
bosoms  such  as  sought  a  higher  grade  of  instruction.  There 
were  scarce  any  of  the  universities  of  Italy,  France,  and 
especially  Germany,  which  lay  nearer  to  us,  in  which  were 
not  to  be  found  some  Swedes.  Many  remained  there  to  take 
upon  them  the  office  of  teachers.  Many  returned  home  after  a 
protracted  stay  abroad,  and  could  not  but  have  imbibed  the 
manners  and  ideas  of  the  lands  where  they  had  received  their 
education.  When  the  celebrated  bishop  of  Skara,  St.  Bry- 
nolf,  who  died  in  1317,  returned  to  his  native  country,  after 
eighteen  years'  residence  in  the  renowned  school  of  learning 
at  Paris,  must  he  not  have  imbibed,  in  spirit  and  character, 
and  brought  home  with  him,  whatever  such  a  stay  and  such 
a  place  were  likely  to  create  ? 

From  the  twelfth,  but  especially  the  thirteenth  century, 
the  process  continued,  for  preserving,  spreading,  and  increas 
ing  the  tone  and  discipline  which  had  .entered  with  Chris 
tianity.  In  that  direction  moved  the  schools  established  in 
monasteries,  the  cathedrals  in  various  towns,  the  statutes  and 
rules  of  chapters,  and  the  university  of  Upsala. 

The  monastic  schools  were  properly  nothing  else  than 
preparative  patterns  for  the  literary  occupations  of  the  ten 
ants  of  those  establishments.  Their  principal  purpose  was 
not  the  teaching  of  children.  The  pursuit  of  learning  de 
pended  upon  the  character  of  the  rules  of  the  order.  The 
rule  of  the  Benedictines  promoted  attention  to  letters,  while 
among  the  Cistercians  it  was  restrained.  Those  descendants 
of  St.  Bernard,  who  owned  so  many  and  rich  establishments 
in  the  land,  are  said,  at  the  time  of  the  Reformation,  to  have 
sunk  so  low  that,  in  the  year  1525,  a  translation  of  the  New 
Testament  into  Swedish  was  divided  among  the  cathedrals 


44  HISTORY    OP   THE   ECCLESIASTICAL 

and  several  monastic  orders  ;  Alvastra  and  Warnhem,  of  the 
Cistercian  order,  not  having  a  man  competent  to  take  part  in 
the  important  work,  notwithstanding  their  noble  descent  and 
their  rich  litany.  The  decline  of  this  order,  in  respect  to  a 
very  high  degree  of  culture,  is,  of  itself,  a  reasonable  justi 
fication  of  its  being  suppressed  ;  though  neither  at  the  time 
was  there  found  in  these  monks  any  other  high  characteristic. 

The  purpose  of  the  begging  orders,  not  only  to  separate 
themselves  from  the  world,  but  to  labor  for  the  promotion  of 
truth  and  virtue,  induced  a  necessary  regard  to  the  interests 
of  learning.  These  orders  were  the  fruits  of  a  time  which, 
on  the  one  hand,  experienced  the  evil  of  the  church's  mere 
worldly  condition  through  wealth  and  the  temptations  of 
pleasure  ;  on  the  other,  more  or  less  felt  the  insecure  position 
which  the  church  had,  in  the  faith  to  be  propagated  by 
knowledge  among  an  intelligent  people.  The  people  stood  in 
need  of  the  church's  learning,  to  be  established  in  the  truth. 

The  preaching  monks  paid  particular  attention  to  their 
studies.  The  monasteries,  such  as  those  of  the  Franciscans, 
had  readers  to  instruct  the  brothers  in  theology7  and  in  vari 
ous  assigned  general  studies,  which  were  attended  by  those 
of  other  monasteries  of  the  same  rule.  This  course  of  gen 
eral  literature,  the  studium  generale,  for  Dacia,  embracing 
Sweden,  Denmark,  and  Norway,  was,  at  least  for  some  time, 
established  at  Skcninge.  They  were  likewise  obliged  to  send 
some  of  the  brothers  to  Paris. 

The  many,  who,  out  of  this  monastic  order,  were  active 
during  the  Reformation  of  the  Swedish  church,  as  Martin 
Skyte,  afterward  bishop  of  Abo,  Henrick  of  Westerns,  subse 
quently  bishop  of  that  see,  Claudius*  Hwit,  who  from  the 
monastery  of  Kalmar  went  to  Wittenberg,  to  convert  or  to 
confound  Martin  Luther,  are  a  proof  that  among  the  Domin 
icans  science  was  still  regarded. 

In  what  proportion  the  monastic  schools  were  attended  by 
those  who  did  not  purpose  to  renounce  a  secular  life,  we  are 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  45 

not  able  to  ascertain.  It  is  certain,  howeve*>  that  at  least  in 
many  instances,  boys  were  received  into  the  monasteries  to 
be  educated,  as  were  girls  by  the  nuns.  But  this  was  not 
always  the  case  ;  and  certainly,  the  reception  was  limited  to 
the  children  of  the  higher  ranks,  who  could  pay  for  them. 
It  does  not  appear  that  anything  like  a  corps  of  teachers  was 
established  in  such  monasteries. 

The  cathedral  schools  were  of  two  kinds.  One  was  for 
the  training  up  of  the  cathedral  basket  boys,  who,  beside 
their  service  as  singers  in  divine  worship,  received  a  prepara 
tion  to  enter,  at  a  mature  age,  the  order  of  the  clergy.  The 
other  was  for  the  purpose  of'  imparting  a  higher  theological 
education,  and  was  placed  under  the  care  of  a  dignitary 
who,  by  the  name  of  scholasticus,  was  to  be  found  in  every 
cathedral. 

In  many  large  towns  were  to  be  found  schools  which 
were  put  under  the  church's  immediate  ward,  and  that  of 
certain  learned  men  ;  or,  as  at  Stockholm,  in  charge  of  the 
council  and  burgesses  of  the  city. 

As  in  other  parts  of  Europe,  here  also,  the  requisition  of 
an  advanced  science  among  the  dignitaries  and  canons  of  the 
cathedrals  became  more  and  more  a  matter  of  concern  ;  as  it 
also  was,  that  these  places  should  be  reserved  for  native  born 
men.  At  the  provincial  synod  of  Arboga,  it  was  resolved, 
that,  under  like  circumstances,  native  men  of  talents  and 
graduates,  should  be  preferred  to  others  in  filling  benefices  and 
dignities.  Examinations  at  the  cathedral  preceded  the  con 
ferring  of  prebends  on  young  men  who,  by  means  of  the 
incomes  from  them,  pursued  and  completed  their  studies 
abroad. 

At  the  time  of  the  Reformation,  we  find  among  the  bishops 
and  members  of  the  cathedral  many  magistrates  and  physi 
cians.  These,  who  very  commonly  resided  many  years  in 
foreign  schools,  had  acquired  a  high  degree  of  cultivation ; 
but  they  were  required  to  produce,  in  writing,  evidence  of 


46  HISTORY   OP   THE   ECCLESIASTICAL 

their  zeal  and  industry,  and  of  the  grade  of  scholarship  they 
possessed  on  their  return  home. 

We  are  to  presume,  that  the  higher  culture  was  found 
among  the  higher  clergy,  and  a  less  degree  of  it  among  the 
lower ;  in  like  manner,  among  the  monks,  ignorance  was  no 
less  to  be  discerned  than  the  intelligence  for  which  many 
among  them  were  remarkable. 

From  the  year  1477,  when  the  university  of  Upsala  was 
solemnly  dedicated  and  opened,  after  long-considered  plans 
and  resolutions,  Sweden  also  had  her  own  high  educational 
establishment.  In.  1480,  lectures  were  delivered  there,  by 
the  learned  Erik  Olaus.  But  this  establishment  of  it  neither 
came  to  a  completion,  nor  indeed  to  any  special  efficiency. 
It  was  more  nominal  than  of  real  advantage.  It  had  no 
endowments.  Neither  of  rents,  nor  of  gifts  to  it,  have  we 
the  slightest  information.  It  was  kept  up  by  the  cathedral 
of  Upsala,  from  whose  canons  and  prebendaries  it  doubtless 
had  its  teachers ;  and  if  it  had  any  help  from  other  sources, 
they  were  but  casual.  There  was  no  division  of  academical 
duties^  and  Swedes,  who  sought  a  high  grade  of  literature, 
went  still,  as  before,  to  foreign  universities  or  high  schools. 

How  long  the  new  establishment  continued  to  give  any 
sign  of  life,  is  uncertain.  In  the  year  1498,  when  king 
John  forbade  Danes  to  go  to  foreign  universities,  before  they 
had  studied  three  years  at  Kopenham,  he  made  the  university 
of  Upsala  an  exception  to  the  prohibition.  The  founder  of 
the  university  of  Upsala  was  chiefly  archbishop  Jacob 
Ulfsson,  in  connection  with  the  regent  of  the  kingdom,  Sten 
Sture.  They  and  the  other  members  of  the  council,  as  was 
declared  in  letters  of  privilege,  at  Striingness,  on  July  2, 1477, 
had  not,  "  on  account  of  other  matters  relating  to  the  king 
dom,  time  and  opportunity  to  reflect  upon  and  determine  the 
measures  for  supporting  a  collegiate  course  of  studies,"  as 
they  would  gladly  do.  It  appears  that  the  time  and  oppor 
tunity  came  not ;  except  as  the  archbishop  alone,  with  his 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  47 

chapter's  concurrence,  had  taken  care  to  keep  up  the  high 
school.  After  Jacob  Ulfsson  had,  in  1514,  resigned  his  see, 
there  is  found  no  trace  of  the  existence  of  a  high  school ;  and 
amid  the  confusion  which  specially  centred  around  Gustav 
Trolle  and  his  chapter,  it  was  vain  to  hope  for  stability  to 
such  an  institution,  dependent  upon  their  ability  or  good 
will. 

We  must  consequently  presume,  that,  at  the  beginning  of 
the  Reformation,  Sweden  had  no  university  in  active  opera 
tion. 

For  the  general  improvement  and  cultivation  of  the  peo 
ple,  there  were  no  means  provided  but  through  the  influence 
of  the  cure  of  souls  and  the  public  worship.  In  the  year 
1441,  archbishop  Nicholas  Ragvaldi  and  his  suffragans  de 
creed,  at  the  provincial  council  of  Soderkoping,  that  the 
Lord's  Prayer,  the  Hail  Mary,  and  the  Creed,  should  be  trans 
lated  into  the  mother-tongue;  and  on  Sundays  and  holy 
days,  be  recited  by  the  rectors  of  churches,  in  the  audience 
of  the  people.  This,  as  a  common  rule  for  the  Swedish 
church,  was  less  than  what  sixteen  years  before  the  eminent 
bishop  of  Linkoping,  Nicholas  Hermanni,  enjoined  upon  the 
clergy  of  his  diocese  :  that  they  should  preface  their  preach 
ing  with  the  Lord's  Prayer  and  Apostles'  Creed,  the  Hail 
Mary,  the  ten  commandments,  and  the  seven  works  of  mercy. 
But  this  shows  that  a  hundred  years  before  the  Reformation 
there  was  a  care  for  the  people's  instruction  in  faith,  and  at 
the  same  time  how  circumscribed  was  that  instruction. 

If,  among  the  great  mass  of  the  people,  little  or  no  lite 
rary  intelligence  is  found — if  the  instruction  in  Christianity 
which  was  imparted  was  of  narrow  compass — we  cannot  draw 
the  certain  inference  that  the  extremest  degree  of  stolidity 
and  ignorance  prevailed.  Energy  in  preserving,  propaga 
ting,  and  impressing  on  the  people's  minds,  that  traditional 
knowledge,  which  works  in  the  heart  of  society,  and  which 
finds  its  field,  as  now  in  Sweden,  in  the  house,  family, 


48  HISTORY    OF   THE   ECCLESIASTICAL 

district,  and  province,  furnishes  resources  which  supply  the 
lack  of  learning.  But  the  church,  which  had  herself  de 
clined  from  Christian  purity,  was  little  likely  to  engage  in 
innoculating  the  life  of  the  people  with  a  living  spirit  of 
Christianity,  as  she  did  engage  in  the  effort  to  annihilate  its 
strength  and  effects.  She  had  adopted  as  a  maxim,  not  to 
leave  the  Scriptures  in  every  man's  hand,  and  therefore  ex 
cluded  laymen  from  the  fountain  of  truth,  which  became  a 
stranger  even  to  the  clergy  themselves.  It  was  the  error 
and  ruin  of  the  hierarchy  to  wish  to  keep  the  Scriptures  to 
themselves,  and  to  permit  truth  to  enter  merely  as  a  precep 
tive  part  of  the  education  of  the  individual  mind,  but 
Avithout  watering  the  church's  garden  by  an  immediate 
and  direct  overflow.  It  must  follow,  that  the  life  of  the 
garden  withered  away,  that  faith  was  'converted  into  legal 
morality,  love  into  the  constraint  of  obedience,  the  worship 
of  God  into  outward  display.  The  church,  in  such  a  con 
dition,  could  present  neither  to  priests  nor  people  the  appear 
ance  of  a  living  body  and  form.  When  such  was  the  state 
of  things,  the  Christian  life  and  spirit  of  the  church  suffered 
more  injury,  through  the  forms  that  stifled  them,  than  could 
be  compensated  by  the  benefit  of  the  church's  government 
and  direction.  The  protesters  against  the  meretricious  char 
acter  of  the  church,  who,  especially  from  the  twelfth  century? 
stood  forward  in  various  parts  of  Western  Europe,  did  not 
make  their  appearance,  it  is  probable,  in  Sweden,  as  they  did 
not  in  the  north  of  Germany,  before  the  beginning  of  the 
sixteenth  century.  To  what  degree  the  decrees  of  Swedish 
provincial  synods,  in  preventing  the  ban  of  excommunication 
against  those  who  denied  being  under  the  pope  or  church  of 
Rome,  were  caused  by  the  views  to  which  we  have  alluded, 
is  unknown.  Our  annals  do  not  mention  the  popular  opinion 
on  the  subject.  Nor  is  it  known  to  us  if  any  influence  was 
exerted  by  the  teaching  of  Heyno,  pastor  of  St.  Olof,  in 
Wisby ;  that  after  the  Dominicans  and  Franciscans  began  to 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  49 

hear  confession  there  had  been  no  true  shepherd  in  God's 
church ;  that  he  commits  mortal  sin  who  hears  mass  of 
wicked  priests ;  that  the  priest  who  sins  wilfully  cannot  for 
give  the  sins  of  others ;  and  that  monks  were  the  deceivers 
of  the  people.  But  this,  as  well  as  the  account  we  have  of  a 
peasant  named  Hemming,  who,  in  1442,  appeared  at  Wad- 
sten  as  the  messenger  of  the  virgin  Mary,  and  who  pro 
claimed  before  the  monks  of  Wadsten  some  unacceptable 
articles  against  the  saints  and  the  rule  of  St.  Bridget,  seems 
to  prove  that  the  entire  indifference  to  such  subjects  which 
is  apt  to  be  attributed  where  there  is  no  book  learning,  did 
not  exist  in  the  church  of  Sweden. 

The  witnesses  which  remain  to  us  concerning  the  moral 
condition  of  the  clergy,  are  not  unexceptionable.  It  is  as 
unsafe  to  judge  of  the  general  character  of  times  gone  by, 
from  some  insulated  cases,  as  to  judge  of  a  people's  or  coun 
try's  manners  and  customs  by  what  we  learn  of  an  individ 
ual.  We  must  judge  the  Reformation  by  the  times  that 
preceded.  But  the  church,  which,  in  its  high  places,  was 
represented  by  Jans  Bengtsson  and  Gustav  Trolle,  could  have 
no  claims  to  an  exalted  estimation.  The  morality  of  indi 
viduals  must,  in  a  degree,  be  judged  according  to  the  char 
acter  of  the  times,  and  here,  from  the  year  1248,  present 
themselves  the  continually  repeated  complaints  of  transgres 
sions  against  the  law  of  celibacy.  The  decrees  of  councils 
furnish  evidence  of  these  complaints,  and  that  notwithstand- 
jng  the  bishops  having  laid  a  tax  on  the  priests  for  permis 
sion  to  keep  concubines,  the  sons  of  priests  sometimes 
obtained  permission  to  enter  the  sacerdotal  ranks  ;  while  the 
public  tribunals  confirm  the  last  wills  of  priests  in  regard  to 
their  "  property  and  sons."  The  charge  on  the  morality  of 
the  priests  may  be  considered  pretty  well  established  when 
so  much  can  be  presented  on  one  point,  and  the  breach  of 
the  law  in  this  respect  gives  us  no  reason  to  presume  perfec 
tion  in  another. 

3 


50  HISTORY    OF   THE   ECCLESIASTICAL 

We  do  not  need,  in  order  to  magnify  the  merits  of  the 
Reformation,  to  paint  the  precedent  times  altogether  in 
black.  But,  we  add,  that  when  one,  in  our  day,  declared 
that  an  increased  immorality  among  the  clergy  was  the  fruit 
of  the  Reformation,  the  assertion  is  refuted  by  what  we  find 
in  the  preceding  century.  It  amounts  to  a  degree  of  wick 
edness  that  constitutes  a  more  than  sufficient  apology; 
though  our  advices  on  the  subject  are  in  some  particulars 
defective,  and  the  times  immediately  succeeding  the  Refor 
mation  could  not  escape  the  confusion  which  follows  upon 
eveiy  rupture  of  human  relations. 

Concerning  the  general  morality  of  the  people,  we  hear 
the  echo,  in  1412,  when  the  council  of  Arboga  was  held,  of 
complaints  of  the  lewdness,  rapes,  rapine,  murders,  usury, 
contempt  of  penance  and  the  Lord's  Supper,  and  a  mock 
religion,  which  satisfied  itself  with  mere  outward  forms,  that 
sufficiently  indicate  the  spirit  of  the  age.  The  judgment  so 
passed  is  not  to  be  considered  as  the  ordinary  condemnation 
of  the  mere  casual  exceptions  to  good  order.  In  like  man 
ner,  the  care  which  the  Swedish  church,  in  the  middle  ages, 
gave  to  the  interests  of  the  soul  was  not  calculated  to  ac 
complish  the  transformation  of  a  heathenish  people  into  a 
Christian.  Its  righteousness  of  the  law  could  not  restrain 
and  check  the  natural  pride  of  the  heart,  or  only  so  long  as 
compulsion  rendered  necessary  a  specious  submission.  This 
compulsion  kept  pace  with  the  papal  hierarchy,  and  necessi 
tated  more  than  once,  both  nobles  and  people,  with  weapons 
in  their  hands,  to  protect  their  human  and  Christian  rights 
against  bishops  and  priests.  The  difference  between  things 
and  persons  was  well  understood  ;  but  he  of  the  people  who 
cursed  the  church's  head  as  the  cause  of  the  kingdom's  dis 
asters  could  not  await  the  church's'  order,  being  already 
more  accurately  acquainted  than  her  learned  men  with  the 
difference  between  God's  holy  will  and  law,  and  that  hier 
archy  which  affected  to  hold  the  keys  of  heaven  in  their  hand. 


REFORMATION   IN    SWEDEN.  51 

A  deeper  inward  -improvement,  if  it  was  not  on  the  side 
of  popish  Christianity,  could,  with  great  difficulty,  be  intro 
duced  among  our  forefathers.  Heathenism,  therefore,  in 
fact  remained,  only  modified  by  a  Christian  form  of  public 
worship,  or  a  form  of  Christian  superstition.  Alms-deeds, 
as  the  chief  of  good  works,  atoned  for  all  sins.  "With 
man,"  it  was  said,  "  when  he  flits  from  this  life,  follows  all 
that  in  mercy  he  has  given  to  works  of  piety."  Men  for 
got  the  motive  on  which  alms  should  be  given ;  and  found 
the  meritoriousness  in  the  mere  alms-giving  itself.  Of  such 
alms-giving  the  church  enjoyed  the  revenue,  and  her  huckster 
ing  in  indulgences  was,  as  is  well  known,  the  chief  cause  of 
the  Reformation  in  Germany.  Even  in  Sweden  the  Refor 
mation  was  prompted  and  the  way  made  ready  by  this  par- 
don-mongering.  Although  this  had  not  here  the  same 
intimate  connection  with  reform  as  in  Saxony,  it  is  yet 
proper  to  inquire  in  what  way,  even  in  Sweden,  the  sale  of 
indulgences  contributed  to  make  the  need  of  a  reformation 
sensibly  felt. 


52  HISTORY    OF    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 


CHAPTER    II. 

OF   THE    SALE   OF  INDULGENCES,  AND  THE  PAPAL  LEGATE. 
J.  C.  ARCIMBOLD. 

POPE  LEO  X.,  of  whom  Paul  Sarpi,  a  writer  of  the  Ro- 
man  church,  but  no  friend  to  papal  domination,  had  said, 
that  of  all  the  qualities  which  should  adorn  a  pope  he 
wanted  but  two — theological  culture  and  any  disposition  to 
goodness — was  advised,  soon  after  his  being  seated  in  the 
chair  of  Rome,  to  employ,  in  his  need  of  money,  that  drag 
net  which  had  so  long  been  a  rich  source  of  revenue  to 
Rome: 

The  sale  of  indulgences  had  been,  from  the  thirteenth 
century  especially,  the  means  employed  for  replenishing  the 
papal  treasury.  Indulgences,  which  remitted  the  church's 
penance,  under  which  any  one  had  fallen,  had  a  very  ex 
tensive  significance  and  expiatory  power.  Christ,  it  was 
said,  had  commuted  eternal  into  temporary  pains,  which  men 
must  suffer  in  this  life,  or  in  purgatory,  if  before  death  they 
were  not  reached,  or  were  neglected.  The  doing  of  penance 
in  the  church  partook  of  the  nature  of  suffering  and  fulfill 
ing  the  punishment,  and  had  a  value  in  being  voluntarily 
undergone,  and  on  the  supposition  of  a  penitent  mind  ;  a 
supposition  which  was  but  seldom  considered  of  no  import 
ance.  But  on  the  strength  of  Christ's  and  the  saint's  merits 
the  church  could  remit  this  penance,  or  change  it  from  the 
doing  of  penance  by  the  individual  to  his  execution  of  a  like 
work,  which  should  be  for  the  common  benefit  and  advan- 


REFORMATION   IN    SAVEDEN.  53 

tage  of  the  church.  From  the  inexhaustible  spiritual 
treasure  of  the  merits  of  Christ  and  the  saints  was  distribu 
ted  grace  to  those  who  stood  in  need,  so  that  through  their 
participation  of  it  might  be  collected  a  temporal  tribute  for 
the  church's  benefit. 

The  crusades  were  undertaken  by  men  who,  by  this  mili 
tary  service,  fulfilled  all  the  church's  requisition  of  penance. 
Many  churches  were  built  out  of  the  money  collected  from 
the  sale  of  indulgences ;  the  sum  corresponding  to  the  pen 
ance  to  be  done,  which  otherwise  might  occupy  a  certain 
time  for  its  accomplishment.  .  The  customary  price  for 
building  a  church  was  a  fourteen  days'  indulgence,  or  a  re- 
mittal  of  a  fourteen  days'  penance.  This  was  the  highest 
kind  of  indulgence  a  bishop  could  grant.  But  the  consum 
mate  power  of  the  pope  enabled  him  to  extend  the  indul 
gence  to  a  longer  time.  It  was  given  by  him  for  a  hundred 
years,  for  a  thousand';  yea,  for  eternity. 

For  the  sale  of  indulgences  there  was  always  a  good  ob 
ject  assigned.  Most  commonly  thfc  money  was  spent  on 
worldly,  not  seldom  on  selfish  and  criminal  purposes.  The 
pretended  spiritual  purpose  was  a  cloak,  and  the  same 
mockery  was  shown  which  pope  Innocent  VIII.'s  chamber 
lain  offered  in  behalf  of  his  master's  exaction  of  money  for 
the  pardon  of  murder :  "  God  willeth  not  the  death  of  a 
sinner  but  that  he  should  refund.,  or  pay  a  tax,  and  live." 

The  mode  of  collecting  the  returns  for  indulgences  was 
formed  into  a  regular  money  market.  The  sale  was  farmed 
to  certain  persons,  either  according  to  a  prescribed  ratio  of 
the  profits  to  be  made,  or  for  a  given  sum  at  once  to  be  paid 
into  the  papal  treasury.  The  nobles,  at  least  in  the  fifteenth 
century,  took  opportunity  to  share  with  the  church.  The 
pardon-mongers  were  obliged  to  purchase  in  any  country  the 
license  to  sell  indulgences,  or  to  bind  themselves,  on  certain 
conditions,  to  divide  the  profits  with  the  nobles  of  that 
country. 


54  HISTORY    OF   THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

The  Scandinavian  North  was  not  neglected  in  this  traffic, 
even  if  there  was  not  there  quite  so  much  extortion  as  in 
Germany,  which  was  most  harassed  by  tribute  to  Rome. 

Such  was  the  report,  in  1460,  of  one  Marinus  de  Fregero, 
the  papal  commissioner  of  indulgences,  among  other  places, 
for  Norway  and  the  kingdom  of  the  Goths.  The  reason 
assigned,  was  the  protection  of  Christian  truth  against  the 
Turks.  In  the  year  1489,  Eaymond  Paraldus,  had,  on  the 
same  excuse,  a  similar  commission  for  Sweden,  Denmark, 
and  Norway. 

Pope  Julius  II.  began  the  sale  of  indulgences  for  the  build 
ing  of  St.  Peter's  church.  Leo  X.  carried  on  the  traffic  upon 
the  same  pretext.  Purchasers  were  absolved  from  all  the 
sins  and  misdemeanors  they  committed,  from  every  penalty 
they  incurred,  from  ban  and  interdict ;  and  even  in  all  the  cases 
in  which  the  pope  alone  could  absolve,  they  were  reinstated 
in  the  innocence  and  purity  with  which  they  were  invested 
at  their  baptism ;  and  leaving  the  world,  the  gate  of  para 
dise  would  immediately  open  to  them.  The  pope  desired, 
through  indulgences,  to  give  Christians  an  opportunity  for 
good  works,  especially  the  building  of  St.  Peter's ;  but  as 
all  could  not  go  to  Rome  to  put  their  alms  in  the  coffer,  he 
had,  as  Christ  sent  his  apostles  into  all  the  world,  sent  his 
embassadors  into  the  countries  of  Christendom. 

An  agency  was,  in  1514,  committed  for  many  countries, 
among  them  the  province  of  Upsala,  to  John  Angelus  Ar- 
cimbold,  doctor  of  law,  dean  of  Arcisate,  papal  prothonotary 
and  referendary.  The  accurate  Sarpi  is,  however,  mistaken, 
in  his  history  of  the  council  of  Trent,  when  he  intimates 
Arcimbold  to  have  been  at  this  time  a  bishop ;  but  he  is  less 
mistaken,  perhaps,  in  his  severe  judgment,  when  he  says  that 
Arcimbold,  in  taking  upon  himself  the  bishop's  office,  had 
put  off  none  of  the  qualities  which  belong  to  a  consummate 
Genoese  chapman.  Arcimbold  was  by  birth  of  Milan,  be 
came,  after  he  had  been  the  agent  for  indulgences,  bishop  of 


.REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  55 

Novara,  in  1525  ;  held  the  archbishopric  of  Milan,  the  chief 
see  of  Italy,  in  1550 ;  and  died  in  1555. 

In  September,  1516,  Leo  X.  executed  for  Arcimbold  a 
brief  in  which,  it  is  said,  that,  as  the  apostolic  chamber  stood 
in  need  of  resources  for  the  building  of  St.  Peter's,  his  pow 
ers  were  prolonged  over  the  northern  kingdoms,  the  ecclesi 
astical  province  of  Upsala,  and  the  bishopric  of  Meissen  for 
two  years,  and  for  other  countries,  one  year.  When  the 
pope,  moreover,  not  without  grief,  perceived  that,  in  the 
province  of  Upsala,  discord  existed  between  certain  prelates 
and  nobles  and  communities,  through  instigation  of  that 
sower  of  weeds,  the  devil — so  that  war  was  kindled  to  the 
great  satisfaction  of  infidels  and  foes  of  Christ's  truth,  and 
to  the  injury  of  the  Christian  community — he  sent  Arcim 
bold  to  heal  the  rupture,  and  execute  other  business  as  em- 
bassador  of  the  apostolic  see,  as  well  as  to  be  the  angel  of 
peace,  with  the  authority  belonging  to  a  legate  a  latere. 
He  began,  within  a  month  after  the  reception  of  this  brief, 
his  journey  thither,  and  endeavored  to  establish  peace  and 
harmony,  for  which  purpose  he  was  to  employ  ban  and 
interdict. 

This  appointment  was  given  at  the  commencement  of  the 
dispute  between  Sten  Sture,  the  younger,  and  Gustav  Trolle. 
It  seems  that  the  excommunication  of  Sten  Sture  either  had 
not  been  carried  into  effect,  in  1514,  or  been  revoked;  since 
no  mention  is  made  of  it,  and  Arcimbold,  moreover,  was 
furnished  with  the  pope's  recommendation  to  Sten  Sture, 
dated  September  G,  1516. 

In  the  year  1516,  Arcimbold  was  at  Lubeck,  and  there 
carried  on  his  traffic  with  profit.  The  following  year  he 
came  to  Kopenham,  accompanied  by  his  brother,  Antonello, 
and  many  followers,  and  obtained,  on  the  payment  of  1,100 
Rhenish  guilders,  permission  from  king  Christian  H.  to  sell 
indulgences  in  his  kingdom.  He  set  up  his  cross  and  chest 
of  indulgences  in  all  the  churches  of  Kopenham.  In  time 


56  HISTORY    OP   THE   ECCLESIASTICAL 

he  had  the  good  fortune  so  much  to  win  the  confidence  of 
the  king,  that  he  hoped,  through  that  monarch's  co-operation 
to  advance  his  views  on  Sweden,  whither,  as  legate,  he  was 
preparing  to  take  his  departure.  The  king  laid  open  his 
plans  before  him,  and  named  to  him  the  Swedes  upon  whom 
he  relied.  In  January,  1515,  the  legate  sent  his  agent, 
Didrik  Slagok,  to  Sweden,  with  an  overture  for  a  suspen 
sion  of  arms  between  the  two  kingdoms,  till  April  23d, 
during  which  period  peace  might  possibly  be  established. 

In  the  month  of  March,  1518,  came  Arcimbold  to  Swe 
den,  and  pursued  his  journey  through  the  land  to  Upsala, 
where,  in  the  house  of  St.  Barbara,  near  the  cathedral,  he 
opened  his  traffic.  He  came  here  soon  after  Gustav  Trolle 
gave  up  his  castle  and  renounced  his  office.  All  this  had 
happened  before  archbishop  Birger  of  Lund,  who  also  re 
ceived  the  pope's  commission  to  watch  the  proceedings  in 
Sweden,  excommunicated,  or,  as  is  more  correct,  threatened 
to  excommunicate,  Sture  and  his  adherents.  Arcimbold's 
commission  appeared  to  the  Swedes  a  possible  means,  through 
the  intervention  of  Rome,  of  gaining  strength  in  the  contest 
with  Denmark.  The  legate,  previously  entangled  and 
pledged  to  the  interests  of  Christian  II.,  and  obligated 
to  resent  the  sentence  against  Trolle,  as  an  illegal  act, 
was  won  over  by  the  attentions  of  Sture  and  his  friends, 
by  their  permission,  without  interference,  to  make  the 
most  of  his  lucrative  traffic,  by  costly  presents,  and,  as  is 
supposed,  by  the  alluring  prospect  that,  if  the  pope  could  be 
induced  to  approve  the  deposition  of  Trolle,  himself  would 
be  elected  archbishop  of  Sweden.  He  arrived  from  Strung- 
ness,  at  Stockholm,  on  Friday,  the  12th  of  November;  was 
visited  by  Sture's  wife,  and  all  the  nobles,  and  clergy,  who, 
from  his  lodgings  in  the  convent  of  grey  friars,  conducted 
him  to  the  cathedral  and  again  home,  and  he  immediately 
set  up  his  cross  and  oblation  coffer.  Soon  after,  he  followed 
the  regent  to  the  diet  of  Arboga,  in  December  of  the  same 


REFORMATION   IN    SWEDEN.  57 

year,  and  there  confirmed  the  sentence  upon  archbishop 
Trolle,  and  advised  him  to  reconcile  himself  to  the  measure. 

In  time  Arcimbold,  either  himself  or  by  his  agents,  had 
extended  the  imaginary  blessings  of  his  merchandise  of  in 
dulgences  over  Sweden  and  Norway,  and  gathered  consider 
able  profits,  partly  in  ready  money,  partly  in  iron  and  butter, 
of  which  he  purchased  large  quantities,  that  by  their  sale  in 
other  countries  he  might  still  further  increase  his  gains. 
Many  persons  followed  in  the  track  of  his  example.  He 
put  into  use  his  brief  for  the  sale  of  indulgences  at  the  nun 
nery  of  Askaby,  on  the  4th  of  April,  1518  ;  at  the  mon 
astery  of  Wadsten  on  May  15  ;  confirmed  September  17, 
the  tithe  system  established  by  bishop  Brask  of  Linkoping, 
gave,  on  the  same  day,  to  that  bishop  the  right  to  absolve 
those  who  injured  clerks,  so  that  they  should  not  be  obliged 
to  go  to  Rome ;  confirmed  the  privileges  of  the  city  of  Stock 
holm  ;  directed,  in  behalf  of  the  pope,  that  bishops  only  and 
men  of  the  ecclesiastical  order  should  be  judges  in  cases 
of  tithes ;  and  forbade  kings,  queens,  nobles,  or  other  lay 
persons,  at  all  to  meddle  therewith,  on  pain  of  excommuni 
cation  and  a  fine  of  500  guilders;  issued,  on  December 
19th,  a  decree  against  violence  to  churchmen  or  their  prop 
erty  ;  and  on  the  following  day  established  the  time  when 
the  feast  of  St.  Nicholas,  a  former  bishop  of  Linkoping, 
should  be  observed,  together  with  many  like  acts. 

In  a  letter,  of  January  2,  1519,  the  legate  informed  pope 
Leo  X.  of  the  state  of  affairs  in  Sweden,  of  the  diet  of  Ar- 
boga,  and  the  sentence  pronounced  against  Trolle,  and  prom 
ised,  on  his  return,  soon  to  render  a  more  exact  account. 
But  neither  Christian,  nor  Trolle,  could  be  satisfied  with  Ar- 
cimbold's  proceedings.  Both  hastened  to  lay  before  the  pope 
complaints  of  his  deceitfulness. 

The  king,  whose  fury  was  probably  increased  by  his  disap 
pointment  in  the  war  of  1518,  was  not  of  a  mind  patiently 
to  await  the  spiritual  trial  and  sentence,  on  the  conduct  of 

3* 


58  HISTORY    OF    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

the  legate.  He  accused  him  of  participation  in  the  Swedish 
schemes  of  rebellion,  and  ordered  the  people  and  merchandise 
which  belonged  to  Arcimbold  to  be  seized.  A  monk  of 
Gothland,  who  preached  indulgences,  was  put  to  death  ;  and  a 
vessel,  loaded  with  iron  and  butter,  was  seized  at  the  island 
of  Severin  Norby ;  and  another,  with  a  similar  cargo,  was 
stopped  at  Kopenham  ;  where,  also,  Antonello  Arcimbold 
was  put  in  prison  ;  and  the  profits  of  the  indulgences  he  had 
brought  with  him,  in  cash,  were  taken  from  him,  amounting, 
at  the  lowest  computation,  to  twenty  thousand  ducats. 

When  the  legate  himself,  on  his  homeward  journey  from 
Sweden,  came  to  archbishop  Birgcr,  at  Lund,  information 
reached  him  of  the  king's  stern  remonstrances,  of  a  summons 
to  give  an  account  of  his  conduct,  and  of  the  t;ollections  he 
had  made,  and  of  his  stopping  in  Lund.  But  he  did  not  con 
sider  it  expedient  to  put  himself  in  the  fierce  king's  hands. 
After  that,  he  wrote  a  long  letter  to  the  king,  in  which  he 
endeavors  to  excuse  himself;  desires  that  the  goods  seized 
should  be  restored,  together  with  his  brother,  "  half  his  soul 
and  heart ;"  and  promises  that,  as  soon  as  Antonello  reached 
Lubeck,  he  would  remit  to  .the  king  one  thousand  Rhenish 
guilders.  He  then  returned  to  the  borders  of  Sweden ; 
stopped  at  Calmar,  and  thence  passed  on  to  Lubeck. 

In  all  probability,  a  new  act  of  excommunication  was 
passed,  in  the  spring  or  summer  of  1519,  upon  Sture  and  his 
adherents.  A  papal  brief,  of  May  13,  1520,  mentions  one 
as  already  issued  by  archbishop  Birger  and  bishop  Lage 
Urne,  of  lloskild ;  but  after  Trolle's  imprisonment,  and  the 
destruction  of  Stacket,  since  it  would  only  have  been  enforced 
while  the  archbishop  was  not  at  liberty,  or  restored  to  the 
church  of  Upsala,  or  while  the  castle  remained  unbuilt,  either 
of  a  like  strength  or  greater  than  the  former  one.  This  ex 
communication  cannot  be  the  same  with  that  which  the  au 
thor  Hvitfeldt  regards  as  executed  by  Birger  alone  in  1517; 
or,  what  is  more  likely,  this  last  is  a  mere  fable,  since  it 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  59 

neither  supposes  Stacket  to  be  destroyed,  nor  speaks  of  the 
one  hundred  thousand  ducats — half  to  the  pope,  half  to  the 
church  of  Upsala,  and  a  compensation  for  the  lost  goods — 
wherewith,  according  to  the  papal  brief  just  mentioned,  Sture 
and  his  adherents  were  threatened,  as  the  result  of  the  epis 
copal  excommunication.  But  this  excommunication,  by 
Birger  and  Lage  Urne,  was  not  promulged  before  Arcini- 
bold's  journey  to  Sweden  ;  so  that  it  cannot  be  that  in  the 
course  of  the  year  1518,  while  the  papal  legate  resided  in 
Sweden,  with  extensive  powers  and  a  multiform  commission, 
affecting  the  contests  between  the  chief  men  of  the  church  and 
state  in  that  country.  It  could  not  again  have  occurred  in 
the  short  interval  between  the  surrender  of  Stacket  and  the 
coming  of  Arcimbold.  The  thing  had  then  been  done  ;  and 
Arcimbold  would  not  willingly  reverse  the  church's  sentence, 
once  passed.  That  the  excommunication  was  published  in. 
1519,  is  expressly  mentioned  by  Olaus  and  Laurentius  Petri, 
with  the  remark  of  the  former,  that  "  the  Swedes  regarded 
such  excommunication  as  of  no  account." 

But  the  pope  was  troubled  on  account  of  the  legate,  his 
brother,  and  the  tribute  they  had  left  behind.  In  a  letter,  on 
August  26th,  1519,  he  wrote  to  Christian,  that  Arcimbold, 
who  had  been  recalled  to  Rome  to  give  an  account  of  his 
trust,  had,  on  the  king's  complaint,  declared  that  one  of  Ar- 
cimbold's  servants  had,  through  false  presences,  deceived  the 
king.  The  pope  had  charged  the  archbishop  of  Lund  to  en 
ter  upon  an  investigation  of  the  legate's  conduct,  and  he 
should  be  punished  if  found  guilty.  Meanwhile  the  king  was 
to  give  up  his  brother,  and  servants,  and  the  tribute  collected 
for  St.  Peter's  church  ;  and  the  money  and  merchandise  for 
the  papal  treasury  might  be  sent  to  a  commercial  house  in 
Antwerp.  On  the  same  day  with  the  above-mentioned  let 
ter,  the  archbishop  of  Lund  received  a  commission  to  inves 
tigate  the  proceedings  of  Arcimbold,  and  to  induce  the  king 
to  give  up  the  goods  held  back. 


60  HISTORY    OF   TUB   ECCLESIASTICAL 

The  suit  against  Arcimbold,  if  ever  begun,  was  probably 
interrupted  by  the  death  of  Birger,  the  other  cares  of  the  see 
of  Rome,  and  Christian's  conduct.  His  brother  Antoncllo 
was  at  length  liberated  ;  but  of  the  tribute  derived  from  the 
last  traffic  in  indulgences  in  Sweden,  little  or  nothing  flowed 
into  the  papal  treasury.  Most  of  it  fell  to  the  share  of: 
Christian  the  cruel,  and  furnished  him  new  means,  with 
Swedish  money,  to  promote  his  warlike  preparations  against 
the  Swedes.  Of  these  preparations,  the  bloody  fruits,  when 
Christian  came  forward  as  the  church's  avenger,  hastened  the 
breach  through  which  a  new  order  of  things,  within  the 
church  and  commonalty,  found  entrance.  Through  this  traf 
fic  of  indulgences,  Sweden  acquired,  on  an  entirely  different 
basis  than  human  cunning  and  selfish  calculation,  though 
with  the  loss  of  some  of  her  noblest  sons,  a  freedom  from 
spiritual  and  social  bondage. 

At  the  time  when  the  first  bitter  fruits  of  the  disorders  in 
our  fatherland  were  developed,  there  came  from  Wittenberg 
a  Swedish  youth,  who  had  there  been  a  witness  of  the  mis 
chievous  consequences  which,  in  Germany,  followed  the  mer 
chandise  of  indulgences. 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  61 


CHAPTER    III. 

OLAUS    PETRI. 

OP  the  smith  Peter  Olofsson,  of  Orebro,  and  his  wife, 
Christna  Larsdotter,  were  born  two  sons  :  Olof,  in  the  year 
1497,  and  Lars,  in  1499.  Their  father  died  in  1521.  The 
mother  afterward  lived  a  widow  for  four-and-twenty  years; 
enriched,  amid  cares  and  joys,  by  the  zeal  and  conduct  of  her 
children ;  a  witness  of  the  disappointments  of  the  elder,  of 
the  eminence  of  both.  She  saw,  at  her  death,  in  1545,  the 
one  as  shepherd  of  the  chief  church  of  Stockholm,  the  other 
as  archbishop  of  Sweden. 

In  the  Roman  church,  whose  law  respecting  the  celibacy 
of  her  clergy  does  not  allow  them  to  leave  a  legitimate  issue, 
the  dedication  of  a  son  to  that  office  is  regarded  as  an  offer 
ing  to  God  on  the  part  of  the  parent.  Whether  it  were  such 
a  motive,  or  the  desire  of  improvement,  according  to  the 
ideas  of  the  times,  that  induced  the  parents  of  Olof  and  Lars, 
who  were  well  disposed  for  study,  to  devote  their  sons  to  the 
offices  of  the  church  and  literature~we  do  not  venture  to  de 
cide. 

The  opportunity  of  acquiring  the  elements  of  learning  was 
afforded  by  the  site  of  their  patrimony,  in  the  neighborhood 
of  the  monastery  of  the  Carmelites. 

This  order,  which  counted  its  own  descent  from  the 
prophet  Elisha,  came  originally  from  the  monastery  on  mount 
Carmel,  in  Palestine ;  a  hill,  from  remote  times,  the  abode  of 
Eremites,  who,  in  memory  of  the  prophets  Elisha  and  Eli 
jah,  there  established  their  seat.  The  order  was  translated, 
in  the  thirteenth  century,  to  western  Europe,  where,  in  the 


62  HISTORY    OF   THE   ECCLESIASTICAL 

year  1245,  it  held  of  the  pope  the  privileges  of  a  begging  or 
der,  for  the  redemption  of  the  holy  land.  They  came  to  the 
North  slowly,  and  few  in  numbers.  In  the  year  1407  was 
founded  a  monastery  at  Landskrona.  In  old  Sweden  the 
only  monastery  was  at  Orebro  ;  probably  founded  in  1418. 
It  was  here  termed  the  brethren  of  the  Virgin  Mary. 

In  this  monastery,  it  is  said,  the  brothers  Petri  had  their 
first  rudiments  of  education.  The  Carmelites  prided  them 
selves  in  their  zeal  for  letters ;  though  it  is  not  certain  that 
they  merited  the  claim.  How  far  Olof  availed  himself  of 
the  opportunities  he  had  in  his  native  country,  for  literary 
instruction,  is  uncertain ;  although  it  appears  that  he  went 
to  Striingness,  where,  it  is  to  be  presumed,  that  his  character 
was  more  fully  developed. 

At  the  age  of  nineteen,  Olof,  the  elder,  left  Sweden,  to 
finish  his  studies  in  a  foreign  university.  He  chose  that  of 
Wittenberg,  as  not  remote,  and  celebrated  for  its  learned 
men. 

The  university  of  Wittenberg  was  dedicated  in  1502,  after 
the  stars  had  been  consulted,  and  the  horoscope  of  the  new 
institution  settled.  The  elector  of  Saxony  endeavored  to 
assemble  there  men  eminent  for  their  learning  and  skill  in 
teaching.  The  unsteadiness  and  confusion  of  the  times  kept 
the  young  institution  in  restraint.  The  controversy  of  the 
Dominicans  against  Reuchlin,  and  the  attendant  war  respect 
ing  mental  culture,  which  the  authors  and  language  of  old 
Greece  and  Rome  had  begun  to  call  forth,  roused  all  minds, 
and  increased  the  ferment  which  portended,  in  the  church 
and  realms  of  science,  tempestuous  clouds.  But  Witten- 
burg  was  not  opposed  to  the  cause  of  Reuchlin.  Spalatin, 
the  elector's  chaplain,  held  with  Reuchlin  a  correspondence 
by  letters.  Staupitz,  provincial  of  the  Augustinian  order, 
and  the  friend  as  well  as  favorer  of  Luther,  had  studied,  at 
the  same  time  with  Reuchlin,  at  the  university  of  Tubingen. 
The  ardent  Carlstadt,  one  of  Wittenberg's  most  famous 


REFOKMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  63 

scholars,  and  afterward  renowned  in  the  history  of  the  Ref 
ormation,  was  Reuchlin's  zealous  admirer. 

In  the  year  1510,  Martin  Luther  was  called  to  take  a  pro- 
fesso.r's  chair  at  Wittenberg ;  and  he  soon  gained  it  a  high 
degree  of  respect.  The  influence  or  persuasions  of  Luther,  it 
is  said,  induced  Olof  to  go  to  Wittenberg,  instead  of  Rome, 
whither  the  piety  of  former  times,  and  the  renown  of  that 
city,  together  with  the  prospect  of  a  retreat  and  support  in 
the  house  of  St.  Bridget,  there  established,  had  first  drawn 
his  attention,  and  directed  his  steps.  But  the  origin  of  this 
tradition  is  unknown,  and  may  resemble  similar  reports, 
after  Luther,  in  1517,  become  world-renowned.  It  was, 
upon  the  contrary,  very  customary,  after  schools  of  rank 
were  opened  in  places  nearer  than  Italy  or  France,  for 
Swedes  to  attend  these,  in  preference  to  such  as  were  more 
remote.  Olaus  Petri  was  not  the  first,  nor  the  last  Swede, 
who  studied  at  Wittenberg.  Olof  came  to  Wittenberg,  and 
was  matriculated  at  the  university,  in  1516.  Among  the 
students  from  Sweden,  were  Olaus  Phase,  of  the  diocese  of 
Striingness ;  Olaus  Brunes,  and  Dyro  de  Handolau,  of  Lin- 
koping.  In  the  year  1517,  on  the  10th  day  of  February, 
Olaus  Petri  was  promoted  to  the  degree  of  master  of  philos 
ophy.* 

The  three  years  Olof  spent  in  Germany,  for  the  most  part? 
if  not  constantly  at  Wittenberg,  were  fruitful  in  the  acquisi 
tion  of  knowledge  and  mental  vigor.  He  stood  in  connection 
with  the  man  who,  in  a  short  time,  became,  during  his  own 
and  for  succeeding  centuries,  the  foremost  man  in  the  history 
of  human  progress.  He  was  present  in  Wittenberg  when 
Luther  posted  up  his  ninety-five  theses;  the  results  of  which, 
through  Olof  s  own  exertions,  changed  the  condition  of 
church  and  state  in  Sweden.  He  was  an  ear  and  eye  wit 
ness  of  the  first  disturbances,  at  the  very  spot  where  the  fer- 

*  An  eminent  writer  assigns  reasons  for  the  opinion  that  Laurentius  Petri 
was  not  a  student  at  Wittenberg. 


HISTORY   OF   THE   ECCLESIASTICAL 

ment  first  began.  He  had  also,  though  for  a  shorter  time, 
an  opportunity  of  hearing  the  famous  lectures  which  the 
young  Melancthon,  born  in  the  same  year  with  Olof,  and 
Luther's  truest  and  dearest  friend,  and  the  second  man  of  the 
Reformation,  began  to  deliver  at  Wittenberg,  in  the  autumn 
1518.  The  spirit  of  Olof,  however,  was  more  allied  to 
Luther's  than  to  that  of  Melancthon. 

Olof  had  thus  stood,  in  relation  to  men  and  circumstances, 
the  memory  and  impression  of  which  could  never  be  effaced 
*om  his  soul.     He  had  received  this  impression  and  this 
memory,  in  an  ardent  and  youthful  soul,  burning  with  love 
for  truth  and  right ;  with  a  zeal  and  courage  boldly  to  pro 
claim  that  truth,  and  resuscitate  it  to  a  life-givino-  enemy 
s  love,  this  zeal,  and  this  courage,  attended  him  durin^ 
e  whole  of  his  earthly  career.     But  the  excess  to  which  he 
earned  these  virtues  too  often  colored  them  with  the  appear 
ance  of  faults.     His  courage  always  continued  to  resemble  a 

young  man's  rashness.     He  never  learned  to  restrain  and 
oontrol  himself ;  ^  a  ^  of  fi%  ^  ^  gtm  ^m  and 

itits     DeCeSSltJ'  ^  ^^ the  fire  °f  MS  natUre  Within  P™P- 


.    A 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  C5 

maladies  of  the  times  in  which  they  live.  They  feel  a  joy 
in  their  amendment.  But,  whenever  there  is  a  great  break 
ing  up  in  the  life  of  humanity,  it  is  not  unusual  that  one  man 
experiences,  in  all  its  depth  and  bitterness,  this  pain,  in 
which  is  the  death  of  the  old  and  birth  of  the  new.  What 
he  suffers  he  suffers  for  all.  The  experience  of  all  times, 
repeats,  in  however  low  a  point  of  view  by  comparison,  the 
experience  of  humanity  through  the  suffering  of  Jesus  Christ  ? 
the  Son  of  God,  for  us  all. 

Olof  returned  to  his  fatherland  in  1519,  after  about  three 
years'  stay  in  Germany.  On  his  return  he  presented  himself 
to  his  bishop,  the  before-mentioned  Matts  Gregersson  of 
Striingness.  He  held  the  canonry  of  the  cathedral  of  that 
see,  and  was  ordained  at  Michaelmas,  September  29,  1520, 
as  deacon  of  the  bishop,  who,  when  he  lost  his  life  in  the 
massacre  of  Stockholm,  left  to  the  church  a  greater  legacy 
than  he  himself  expected.  Olof  had  won  the  bishop's  con 
fidence.  He  had  become  his  chancellor ;  and,  being  in  this 
capacity  near  the  bishop's  person,  was  witness  to  his  efforts 
to  have  homage  rendered  to  Christian,  and  was  even  em 
ployed  in  the  negotiations.  That  his  own  life,  or  that  of 
his  brother,  was  in  danger  at  that  sorrowful  event,  the  mas 
sacre  of  Stockholm,  is  doubtful.  Neither  of  them,  in  their 
accounts  of  it,  speaks  of  the  circumstance  ;  and  there  is  no 
other  source  known  to  me  of  that  danger  having  been  in 
curred,  than  a  supposed  letter  of  Laurentius  to  king  Erik 
XIV. 


66  HISTORY   OP   THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 


CHAPTER    IV. 

THE  FIRST  ACCOUNTS  OF  THE  MOVEMENTS  AT  WITTENBERG— LAU 
RENTIUS  ANDREWS—  OLAUS  PETRI  AT  STRANQNESS— KING  GUSTA 
VUS  I.— JOHN  MAGNUS. 

(CXTIL  AXD   AT   TJIR    DIET   AT   STRANGXKSS   IN   1523.) 

THE  constant  intercourse  with  Germany,  maintained  by 
the  coming  hither  of  German  merchants  and  soldiers,  by  the 
return  of  Swedes  from  foreign  universities,  and  by  the  trade 
carried  on  between  the  chief  Swedish  commercial  towns, 
and  the  German  citizens,  would  not  allow  of  the  transactions 
at  Wittenberg  and  other  parts  of  Germany  in  1517,  and  the 
following  years  to  remain  in  darkness,  and  unknown  among 
us. 

The  people,  who,  in  defiance  of  the  papal  menace  of  the 
church's  law  and  the  ban  of  the  pope,  had  already,  in  a 
diet,  declared  his  archbishop  unworthy  of  office  ;  who,  with 
weapons  in  hand,  conquered  and  destroyed  the  castle  of  St. 
Erik,  his  patron  saint ;  who,  with  the  profits  of  his  indul 
gences,  but  furnished  to  his  foes  the  means  of  war ;  and  who 
prepared  a  bloody  revenge  for  his  aims  and  his  traffic,  in 
order  that  they  might  regain  the  freedom  of  their  native 
land ;  a  people  like  this  could  not  be  indifferent  to  the  doubt 
awakened  by  the,  monk  of  Germany,  whether  indulgences 
were  lawful  in  the  use,  or  to  the  abhorrence  of  their  mis 
use  r  if  it  may  not  rather  be  said,  that  by  their  actions,  they 
had  ventured  further  against  Rome  than  he  had  yet  ven 
tured.  Steps  and  measures  were  already  taken  and  means 
provided  for  giving  security  to  those  measures  against  the 
Roman  hierarchy,  to  which,  as  a  consequence,  the  transac 
tions  in  Germany  must  lead. 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  67 

The  earliest  written  information  of  Luther's  advances 
against  the  sale  of  indulgences  came  from  Rome,  but  were 
penned  by  a  Swedish  hand.  The  monastery  of  Wadstcn  al 
ways  had  one  of  the  brothers' residing  in  its  house  at  Rome, 
who  had  charge  of  the  house,  and  was  the  embassador 
of  the  order  to  the  papal  chair.  Petrus  Magni,  who,  in 
1499,  when  he  was  rector  of  the  school  at  Wadsten,  and 
chaplain  of  St.  Peter's  church  in  that  town,  had  been  or- 
dajfoed  as  priest  of  the  order,  was  sent,  in  1508,  to  Rome  ; 
and  he  appears  to  have  remained  there  till  his  return  home 
to  become  bishop  of  Westerns.  In  a  letter  to  "  the  abbess, 
father  confessor,  and  all  the  beloved  brothers  and  sisters  in 
God"  at  Wadsten,  dated  September  30th,  1518,  he  replies, 
among  other  things,  to  the  requests  of  the  monastery,  that 
he  would  procure  of  the  pope  the  privilege  of  more  indul 
gences,  with  their  accompaniments,  for  the  use  of  the  officials 
of  the  cloisters.  "  A  doctor,"  he  says,  "  of  the  order  of  St. 
Augustin,  in  Germany,  has  written,  the  present  year,  many 
conclusions  against  indulgences,  and  widely  circulated  them  ; 
and  sent  them  even  here  to  the  pope.  If  the  pope  had  him, 
he  would  burn  him  ;  but  he  has  supporters.  Another  doc 
tor  here,  in  Rome,  has  written,  at  the  pope's  command,  a 
reply  ;*  and  where  he  thought  to  loose  the  knot  he  has  only 
tied  it.  An  account  of  the  matter  accompanies  this  letter 
to  you.  I  have  read  how  indulgences  first  began,  and  it  is 
slippery  ground.  Repentance  is  the  surest  way,  and  in  that 
will%I  hope  to  die."  The  openly  declared  disesteem  of  Petri 
for  indulgences,  is  a  proof  of  what  men  ventured,  eren  in 
Rome,  to  think  of  the  case. 

*  Silvester  Prienas.  His  dialogue  on  the  presumptuous  conclusions  of 
M..  Luther  appeared  in  December,  1517.  He  appeals  to  the  pope's  suprem 
acy,  as  the  ground  for  issuing  indulgences.  He  declares  "that  man  to  be  a 
heretic,  who  does  not  confidently  repose  upon  the  Roman  church  and  the 
pope  of  Rome,  as  the  unerring  foundation  of  truth  ;  from  which  even  the  Holy 
Scriptures  derive  their  authority  and  regard." 


(58  HISTORY    OF   THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

In  the  year  1520,  Laurentius  Andreas  was  the  archdeacon 
of  Striingness ;  for  his  knowledge,  his  temper,  and  talents  in 
business,  a  man  of  high  esteem.  He  was  probably  born  at 
Strangness,  and  about  the  year  1480.  Of  his  earlier  life  we 
know  no  more  than  that  he  became  a  master  of  arts,  and 
was  some  time  in  Rome.  John  Magnus,  the  archbishop, 
who  fled  from  Sweden,  speaks  of  him  with  all  the  bitterness 
with  which  a  passionate  man  judges  an  adversary,  in  con 
tending  with  whom  he  has  been  a  loser.  He  censures  es 
pecially  his  violent  behavior  at  Rome,  where  he  became 
associated  "  with  subtle  men,  and  whence  he  brought  home 
nothing  but  a  stolidity  combined  with  a  singular  malignity." 
Rome,  in  the  days  of  Alexander  VI. ,  who  in  times  past  was 
the  most  vicious  of  all  the  popes,  and  in  the  days  of  Julius 
H.  also,  was  no  good  school  for  a  young  man ;  but  the  subse 
quent  life  of  Laurentius  furnishes  ample  reason  to  reverse 
the  sentence  of  John,  and  to  attribute  to  Laurentius  quali 
ties  and  virtues  correspondent  to  the  admitted  vigor  he  dis 
played.  We  find  in  him  a  calm  and  grave  man,  but  at  the 
same  time  we  find  firmness  and  resolution,  and  a  prudent, 
calculating  spirit.  In  another  work  which  he  has  written, 
the  same  adversary  bears  witness  to  the  piety  of  Laurentius, 
though  he  says  it  was  "  more  as  pretence  than  reality,"  and 
reproaches  him  for  "  an  insatiable  appetite  for  honor  and 
applause  and  novelty."*  What  John  further  reports  of  Lau 
rentius  Andrese's  rage  at  being  passed  by  in  the  choice  of  a 
bishop  for  Strangness,  may  be  dismissed,  since  nobler  mo 
tives  are  found  to  vindicate  his  subsequent  proceedings.  It 
proves,  however,  his  influence  in  the  chapter,  as  well  as  his 
colleague's  distrust  of  his  principles,  or  the  fruits  of  his 
superior  predominance.  It  merits  remark,  that  the  writings 
of  John  were,  after  his  death,  published  by  his  brother  Olaus 

"  A  man,  religious  more  in  appearance  than  reality,  but  extravagantly 
lond  of  glory,  praise,  and  novelty,  and  enraged  because  he  was  not  elected 
into  the  place  of  the  deceased  bishop." 


feEFOHMATlON   IN    SWEDEN.  69 

Magnus,  who  was  the  colleague  of  Laurentius  in  the  cathe 
dral  of  Strarigness,  or  its  prcepositus,  a  part  of  the  time  Lau 
rentius  was  its  archdeacon. 

That  Lars,  who  received,  though  we  know  not  where,  the 
degree  of  master  of  arts,  had  an  extensive  mental  cultiva 
tion,  is  manifest  from  his  letters  and  writings.  •  • 

After  the  death  of  bishop  Matts  Gregersson,  king  Chris 
tian,  contrary  to  the  will  of  the  chapter,  to  whom  canonical 
law  gave  the  election  of  a  bishop,  wished  to  introduce  into 
the  see  of  Strangness  John  Bellenake  (the  bald-headed),  one 
of  his  advisers  in  the  massacre.  Having  a  little  before 
despotically  deprived  him  of  the  see  of  Odense,  in  Fyen,  he 
now  wished  to  place  him  in  Strangness.  He  was  obliged  to 
fly  from  the  country  in  1521,  and  it  is  doubtful  if  he  could 
be  possessed  of  the  see.  The  most  important  man  of  the 
chapter,  even  with  a  bishop,  and  still  more  in  a  vacancy, 
was  the  archdeacon.  He  was  the  "  bishop's  eye,"  to  assist 
him  in  the  care  of  the  clergy,  in  business,  and  in  the  general 
affairs  of  the  diocese.  He  exercised,  in  no  inconsiderable 
degree,  the  bishop's  power  of  pronouncing  sentence;  and  had, 
at  least  in  many  sees,  a  part  in  the  government  and  admin 
istration  of  the  church's  property.  This  office  was  now  held 
at  Strangness,  by  Laurentius  Andreas ;  and  could,  in  these 
times  of  confusion,  be  of  the  utmost  importance.  The 
archdeacon  was  the  foremost  man  of  the  diocese. 

Master  Olof  had  begun,  at  Strangness,  to  read  portions 
from  the  Old  and  New  Testaments,  for  those  of  the  prebends 
and  basket-boys  who  wished  to  hear  him.  The  archdeacon 
soon  began  to  be  attentive  to  his  instruction,  approved  of  it, 
and  was  the  cause  of  the  school  being  intrusted  to  Olof. 
This  patronage,  and  Olof 's  legal  right  in  his  new  vocation 
openly  to  give  instruction,  increased  the  number  and  interest 
of  the  hearers.  This  was  the  first  commencement  of  the 
improved  teaching  propagated  in  Sweden. 

That    Olof    did  not,    conceal    the    insight   into   truth  to 


70  HISTORY   OF   THE   ECCLESIASTICAL 

which  he  had  himself  attained,  appears  both  from  his  own 
course  and  from  the  attention  which  the  spread  of  the 
doctrine  from  Strangness  began  to  awaken  in  the  land. 

When,  in  the  autumn  of  1521,  master  Olof,  with  his 
brother  Lars,  came  to  Orebro  to  attend  their  father's  funeral, 
they  wished  to  exclude  from  its  celebration  the  Carmelite 
monks,  who,  in  the  will  of  the  deceased,  were  remembered 
with  a  legacy,  on  condition  of  having  masses  for  his  soul. 
Their  mother,  upon  this,  refused  to  go  in,  and  showed  both 
her  piety  and  sense  when,  to  the  question  of  her  sons,  if  she 
understood  the  Latin  mass  of  the  monks,  she  answered,  "  I 
do  not  understand  them,  but  then  I  hear  them,  and  I  pray 
God  in  my  heart  that  he  will  deign  to  hear  their  prayer,  and 
I  doubt  not  but  he  will."  These  words  completely  express 
the  Roman  church's  idea  of  the  layman's  relation  to  the 
church,  and  of  performing  mass  during  public  worship  in 
an  unknown  tongue.  Yet  she  yielded  to  the  will  of  her  sons, 
to  the  great  scandal  of  the  Carmelites.  They  were  destined 
to  suffer  from  the  freedom  of  speech  of  these  young  men. 
In  a  letter,  dated  Nov.  30,  1521,  Magnus  Birgersson,  con 
fessor  general  of  the  Carmelite  convent,  arraigned  master 
Olof  before  doctor  Nils,  the  dean  of  the  chapter  of  Strang 
ness.  The  deacon  Olaus  Petri,  and  his  brother  Laurentius, 
had  been  at  their  father's  funeral,  "  and  spoke  many  oppro 
brious  things  against  God  and  his  holy  name,  to  the  great 
scandal  of  us  the  brethren  and  all  Christians,  and  have  said, 
that  they  would  change  the  church's  holy  state  and  law, 
which  our  forefathers  have  so  inviolably  kept.  They  have 
turned  away  contemptuously  with  many  blasphemous  words 
us  brethren  of  the  convent,  from  holy  rites  over  their 
father's  dead  body,  entirely  contrary  to  their  good  father's 
command,  who  for  his  poor  soul  ordered  masses,  and  there 
for  for  our  support  gave  his  land  east  of  the  town  ;  in  evi 
dence  of  which  he  left  a  letter,  still  in  possession  of  his  un 
godly  sons  (whom  may  God  graciously  convert),  so  that  it 


t 

REFORMATION   IN    SWEDEN.  71 

will  never  be  of  any  advantage  to  us  brothers.  God  help 
us.  They  have  also  spoken  in  opprobrious  terms  against  the 
pope,  and  said  they  despised  his  power,  as  has  been  done  by 
the  heretical  monk  Luther  of  Rome  (?),  of  whom  they  spoke 
in  strong  terms,  and  exalted  him  in  the  eyes  of  the  people,  as 
is  remembered  by  many  who  treated  us  with  ridicule  and 
scorn.  But  we  are  willing  so  to  suffer  for  God's  sake,  who 
suffered  for  us  and  our  sins.  Dear  doctor  Nils,  to  you  be 
longs  the  care  of  these  things,  and  the  terror  of  the  church' s 
law  against  this  deacon  Olaus  Petri,  who  has  been  the  occa 
sion  of  so  much  confusion."  It  is  not  known  whether  this 
accusation  was  attended  with  any  evil  consequences  to  mas 
ter  Olof. 

What  doctrines  were  specially  presented  by  Olof  in  his  lec 
tures,  or  in  what  relation  they  stood  to  the  existing  church, 
we  are  not  informed.  A  specimen,  however,  we  have  in  the 
notes  which  the  above-mentioned  doctor  Nils  made  of  sun 
dry  dangerous  declarations,  which  Olof  from  time  to  time 
advanced,  in  the  course  of  his  preaching  at  Striingness,  and 
which  notes,  with  Nils's  refutation,  came,  in  1523,  into  the 
hands  of  bishop  Brask.  They  may  be  quoted,  as  a  proof  of 
what  was  either  considered  as  the  boldest  of  Olof's  declara 
tions,  or  as  a  proof  of  what  he  was  then  making  the  subject 
of  his  meditations.  In  the  former  case  we  contemplate  the 
stand-point  of  the  Swedish  church,  at  that  time ;  in  the  lat 
ter  case,  to  some  extent,  Olof's  own  position. 

Master  Olof  s  errors  were  as  follows : 

1.  In  the  authentic   Scriptures  it  is  not  found  that  St. 
Anna  was  the  mother  of  the  promised  virgin  Mary.    Doctor 
Nils  appeals  thereon  to  the  church's  gloss  upon  the  Bible 
and  the  church's  liturgy ;  concerning  Master  Oku's  appeal  to 
authentic  Scripture,  he  does  not  express  his  mind. 

2.  Joseph,  who  was  betrothed  to  the  promised  virgin,  was 
not  an  old,  but  a  young  man.     Nils,  in  reply,  appeals  to  the 
church's  testimony  in  her  hymns  and  legends ;  and  he  does 


72  HISTORY    OF   THE   ECCLESIASTICAL 

not  appear  to -reflect  that,  respecting  the  validity  of  even  this 
testimony,  there  will  arise  a  controversy. 

3.  Olof  had  said,  "  No  one  has  here  preached  the  truth  for 
you  before  me."     Against  this  presumptuous   declaration, 
Nils  objects  the  modest  reply,  that  the  question  may  be  deter 
mined  by  direct  proof;  St.  Eskil  had  here  (in  Soderman- 
land)  suffered  martyrdom,  because  he   here   preached   the 
catholic  truth. 

The  ground  on  which  this  expression  of  Olof  rested,  was 
dangerous,  and  decided  the  character  and  genius  of  protest 
antism.  It  might  thence  be  concluded,  that  now,  for  the  first 
time,  truth  was  opened  to  the  world ;  or  that  now,  for  the 
first  time,  it  stood  forth  in  a  light  which  allowed  men  to  ap 
prehend  its  real  nature,  and  thus  transform  the  doctrines  of 
faith  into  human  assurance.  By  master  Olof  the  declaration 
was  made  from  an  historical  point  of  view ;  so  that  he  there 
by  intended  to  signify,  that  the  church  was  already  lost, 
when  Christianity  was  first  preached  in  Sweden.  But  even 
this  supposition  involves  a  degree  of  rashness  and  arrogance, 
since  it  implies  that  the  Christian  truth,  and  life  in  the 
church,  might  at  some  time  be  entirely  stifled. 

4.  No  monk  should  beg ;  because  it  is  said  in  Deuteron 
omy  xv.  (according  to  the  Vulgate),  "  There  shall  be  no  poor 
or  begging  person  among  you."     Doctor  Nils  replies  to  this, 
that  the  passage  quoted  should  be  interpreted  of  the  Jews  ; 
and  refers,  for  the  justification  of  begging  monks,  to  the  writ 
ings  of  Thomas  Aquinas. 

5.  No  one  ought  to  put  his  trust  in  man,  nor  in  the  prom 
ised  virgin,  nor  in  any  saint,  but  in  God  alone.     According 
to  Jeremiah  xvii.,  "  cursed  is  he  who  trusteth  in  man."    This 
point,  which  involves  one  of  the  weightiest  controversies  be 
tween  the  Roman  and  Protestant  churches,  because  it  is  con 
nected  with  the  doctrine  of  the  relation  of  man's  nature  to 
God's  grace,  was  answered  by  Doctor  Nils,  in  regard  to  the 
quoted  passage,  by  remarking,  that  it  is  spoken  of  Zedekiah 


REFORMATION   IN    SWEDEN.  73 

and  Ins  people,  who  trusted  in  the  king  of  Egypt  and  mis 
trusted  the  help  of  God.  But  to  trust  in  man,  in  such  a 
manner  as  to  put  the  chief  trust  in  God,  is  no  error.  He 
here  also  refers  to  Thomas  Aquinas. 

6.  The  vocation  of  the  preacher  is  the  highest  in  the 
church  of  God,  and  is  of  more  consequence  than  the  mass ; 
"  it  is  considered,"  he  says,  "  of  little  consequence,  compared 
to  the  mass."     Doctor  Nils  regards  this  position  to  merit  no 
further  reply  than  this,  that  the  consecration  of  the  body  and 
blood  of  Christ  is  the  highest  and  holiest  action  in  the  church 
of  God  ;  and  he  again  refers  to  Thomas  Aquinas. 

As  in  each  of  the  other  points,  so  here,  also,  had  master 
Olof  predecessors  within  the  Roman  church  itself.  So  spoke, 
in  the  thirteenth  century,  a  Dominican,  or  general  of  the 
order  of  preachers,  Humbert  de  Romanis,  who  asserted  that 
preaching  was  before  all  else.  Christ  had  only  once  cele 
brated  the  mass,  did  not  hear  confession,  seldom  administered 
the  sacraments,  but  often  preached.  As  laymen  understood 
preaching,  but  not  the  mass  celebrated  in  Latin,  so  God  would 
more  clearly  and  openly  bless  the  former  than  the  latter.  An 
order  of  precedence  docs  not,  however,  express  the  protestant 
sense  of  the  various  acts  which,  in  public  worship,  aim  to 
awaken,  invigorate,  and  promote,  the  spiritual  life  of  man. 

7.  The  brotherhood  of  the  psaltery  of  the  virgin  ought 
not  to  be  allowed  ;  because  they  have  no  warrant  in  Scrip 
ture.     To  this  .doctor  Nils  answers,  that  where  two  or  three 
are  gathered  together  in  His  name,  Christ  will  be  in  the 
midst  of  them  ;  and  that,  if  a  righteous  man's  prayer  availeth 
much,  so  must  the  prayers  of  many,  united  in  a  brotherhood, 
avail  much  more. 

Master  Olof  s  appeal  solely  to  the  Scriptures,  proves  that 
he  followed,  with  steady  step,  the  protestant  development. 
His  disapproval  of  the  brotherhood  of  the  psaltery  of  the  vir 
gin,  was  a  direct  blow  to  the  circle  around  him.  The  cele 
brated  deceased  bishop,  Conrad  Roggo,  about  twenty  years 

4 


74  HISTORY    OF   THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

before  the  preaching  of  master  Olof,  and  a  little  before  his 
own  death,  introduced,  with  allowance  of  the  pope,  in  1470, 
the  fraternity  of  the  psaltery  of  '  the  blessed  virgin.  Six 
priests  of  the  chapel  of  St.  Eskil  were  to  celebrate  mass 
daily,  from  Easter  to  the  end  of  the  ecclesiastical  year,  with 
the  exception  of  Saturday  and  Sunday ;  singing  the  psalter, 
to  the  praise  of  the  holy  virgin,  and  imploring  her  protection. 
This  psalter  gained  the  title  of  the  psaltery  of  Mary ;  for 
the  psalter  itself  was  altered,  and  applied  to  her  honor ;  the 
first  psalm,  for  example,  being  made  to  read,  "  Blessed  is  the 
man  who  loves  thy  name,  O  virgin  Mary !  thy  grace  shall 
strengthen  his  soul." 

8.  Confession  should  be  made  by  every  one  before  God 
alone,  and  not  before  the  priest.  Doctor  Nils  admits  that 
this  could  be  permitted  in  case  of  necessity,  but  not  else. 
Man  needs  spiritual  medicine  in  order  to  be  blessed  ;  but  this 
he  cannot  give  himself ;  he  knows  not  if  he  has  a  true  repent 
ance  for  sin ;  he  needs,  therefore,  to  make  known  his  sins  to 
the  priest,  who  is  put  in  the  place  of  Christ.  Confession  be 
fore  a  priest  is  valid,  by  divine  right ;  silent  confession,  be 
fore  God,  has  merely  a  natural  right.  The  pope  himself 
cannot  excuse  from  confession,  for  he  cannot  abrogate  a  di 
vine  right. 

We  find  in  these  notes  from  the  sermons  of  Olaus  Petri,  at 
Striingness,  the  propositions,  which  exhibit  many  of  the 
points  of  doctrine,  on  which  turned  the  controversy  between 
the  Roman  church  and  protestants.  They  were,  for  the  most 
part,  protests  against  the  abuses  which,  within  three  centu 
ries,  had  crept  into  the  western  church,  and  there  became,  or 
were  said  to  have  become,  established  by  law.  At  the  fourth 
council  of  Lateran,  in  1215,  whose  decisions,  however,  were 
in  legal  form  received,  as  the  church's  conciliar  decrees, 
auricular  confession  was  declared  necessary.  At  the  same 
council,  the  doctrine  of  transubstantiation,  as  already  com 
monly  entertained,  Avas  taught  and  enforced  within  the 


REFORMATION   IN    SWEDEN.  75 

church.  The  year  after,  the  pope  gave  an  act  of  confirma 
tion  to  one  of  the  most  conspicuous  of  the  orders  of  begging 
monks ;  and  the  worship  of  the  virgin  Mary,  and  the  saints, 
of  which  there  were  traces  even  in  the  fourth  century,  was, 
at  the  close  of  the  middle  ages,  in  a  state  of  continual  ad 
vance. 

But  the  condition  of  the  church,  with  the  improvement  of 
which  the  ecclesiastical  Reformation  in  Sweden  began,  did 
not  escape  master  Olof's  attention  and  censure.  In  July  of 
1523,  bishop  Brask  received,  from  the  chapter  of  Upsala,  ad 
vices  of  how  widely  the  Lutheran  heresy  began  to  spread  all 
around,  Avithin  the  church  of  Striingness,  by  means  of  a  cer 
tain  Olaus  Petri ;  of  whom  Brask  appears,  this  year,  for  the 
first  time,  to  have  had  any  knowledge.  There  would  be  es 
pecial  danger  to  the  holy  Roman  church's  power,  and  the 
church's  privileges,  in  the  attempt  to  return  the  church,  as 
now  existing,  to  her  first  state  of  poverty,  and  her  other  prim 
itive  characteristics  ;  though,  beyond  contradiction,  she  had 
long  lived  in  poverty,  through  her  own  choice.  She  had 
certainly  taken  the  temporal  goods  which  were  bestowed  upon 
her.  The  heretic  who  then  rose  up  had  still  more  fired  the 
laity,  who  already  showed  themselves  hostilely  affected  to 
the  church.  It  was  now  again  pretended,  that  the  church, 
by  renouncing  her  worldly  possessions,  should  be  brought  to 
a  conformity  with  the  church  of  primitive  times.  This 
would  be  only  to  give  support  to  heresy. 

The  zeal  of  Olof  had  not  yet  encountered  the  man  who, 
for  a  time,  was  to  stand  forth  as  the  most  faithful  and  the 
strongest  champion,  in  Sweden,  of  the  old  religion.  Brask 
had  already,  with  an  observant  eye,  followed  the  course  of 
Lutheran  ism  in  Germany.  In  February  of  1523,  he  writes 
of  having  heard  that  the  Lutheran  heresy  was  on  the  decline ; 
on  the  7th  of  May  following,  of  the  mention  of  a  man  in 
Striingness,  who  wrought  scandal  and  schism  by  his  sermons 
in  favor  of  the  Lutheran  ferment.  He  calls  God  to  witness, 


76  HISTORY    OF    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

that  he  was  deeply  concerned  that  there  was  no  superior 
officer  in  the  church  who  would  watch  over  its  peace.  He 
circulated  pope  Leo  X.'s  brief  of  August  23d,  1518,  to  car 
dinal  Gaeta,  against  Luther.  A  letter  which,  on  March  7th, 
1523,  Brask  wrote  to  master  John  Magnus,  then  at  Rome, 
contains  the  bitterest  complaints,  and  the  blackest  picture  of 
the  Swedish  church's  condition.  "  The  kingdom,"  he  says, 
"  is  shaken  by  war  ;  and  men  can  enjoy  no  peace  or  quiet. 
Whereas  it  was  hoped,  through  the  recognition  of  king 
Christian  II.,  to  gain  peace  and  harmony  in  the  kingdom, 
we  have  experienced  the  sternest  disappointment.  The  heav 
iest  weight  of  the  war  has  fallen  on  the  church,  whose  prop 
erty  and  persons  are  ruined.  This  might  patiently  be 
borne,  if  there  were  any  compensation ;  but  it  cannot  be  re 
garded  with  indifference,  that  the  church  can  obtain,  no  other 
return  than  hate  for  love.  If  an  attempt  is  made  to  recover 
the  lost  property  of  the  church,  we  are  charged  with  ava 
rice  and  the  love  of  contention ;  but  if  a  layman  has  an  eye 
to  the  church's  possessions  or  to  her  persons,  the  profoundest 
meanness  takes  the  place  of  justice,  where  she  or  her  officers 
are  concerned.  There  was  none  to  comfort  the  church  of  Abo, 
which  has  lost  her  castle,  her  richest  jewels,  and  her  shep 
herd,  who  perished  by  shipwreck.  Bishop  Otto  of  Westeras 
had  died  the  previous  summer,  at  the  siege  of  Stockholm, 
and  left  his  church  wasted  by  foes  and  in  poverty.  The 
clergy  of  Strangncss,  three  times  plundered  in  one  year, 
mourned  over  the  sufferings  of  their  see.  The  church  of 
Skara,  burnt  by  its  foes,  lamented  and  expected  further 
cause  for  lamentation  over  its  desolation,  and  its  stern  neces 
sities.  It  needed  not  to  speak  of  the  church  of  Upsala; 
which  has  undergone  ineffable  sufferings.  The  bishop  of 
Wexio,  a  man  stricken  in  years,  and  full  of  infirmities, 
placed  on  the  hostile  frontiers,  was  in  daily  dread  of  cap 
tivity.'  Kalmar  was  possessed  by  enemies,  and  had  be 
come  so  commonly  a  prey  by  indecent  guests  and  other 


REFORMATION   IN    SWEDEN.  77 

burdens,  that  its  property,  which  before  was  a  curse  to  the 
monks,  was  now  more  so  to  the  priests.  If  complaint  was 
made  of  plundered  tithes,  of  disorderly  occupants  of  glebes, 
of  intrusions  upon  the  rights  of  the  clergy,  it  was  said,  that 
censure  fell  upon  the  landsman,  who  did  less  mischief  to  the 
church,  more  than  upon  her  enemies,  who  left  her  nothing. 
With  all  this  co-operated  certain  spiritual  evils  which  must  be 
passed  over,  that  were  the  result  of  the  infection  of  Lutheran 
principles.  For  these  principles  had  brought  many  laymen 
to  the  opinion,  that  the  church  was  made  for  the  civil  com 
munity,  and  that  therefore  all  that  the  church  owned  should 
belong  to  this  community." 

Occasion  will  hereafter  occur  to  speak  of  various  points 
of  these  complaints  of  Bishop  Brask.  His  fear  of  the 
Lutheran  heresy  was  justified,  not  merely  by  advices  from 
Striingness,  but  by  the  effects  of  it  he  experienced  in  his  own 
diocese,  where  Severin  Norby's  power  was  the  support  of 
the  heresy.  It  was  this  circumstance  probably,  and  the 
news  he  received  from  Germany,  which  induced  Brask, 
soon  after  the  raising  of  the  siege  of  Kalmar,  to  thank  the 
prior  of  the  Dominicans  in  that  city,  while  congratulating 
him  on  his  escape  from  the  Danes,  for  his  opposition  to 
Lutheramsm,  and  to  send  him  the  bulls  of  the  universities 
of  Louvain  and  Cologne,  with  the  heresies  of  Olaus  Petri. 

Although  the  more  liberal  principles  began  in  many  places 
to  take  root,  it  was  from  Striingness,  the  centre  of  reforma 
tion  in  our  fatherland,  that  the  seed  of  the  new  dogmas  was 
sown  over  Sweden.  Archdeacon  Laurentius  Andrese  was 
won  over  to  the  cause  of  the  Reformation,  and  became  the 
disciple  of  his  younger  colleague,  Olof. 

At  Whitsuntide,  near  the  close  of  May,  1523,  was  opened 
the  diet  of  Striingness  ;  which,  for  Sweden's  and  the  church's 
future,  was  of  so  great  consequence,  as  resulting  in  the  coro 
nation  of  Gustavus  Wasa  as  king.  Bishop  Brask  was  not 
present.  He  excused  himself  on  account  of  sickness,  but 


78  HISTORY  OF   THE   ECCLESIASTICAL 

sent  his  chancellor  with  his  seal.  Of  the  king's  election,  he 
says  not  a  word  in  the  letters  written  before  and  during  the 
diet ;  either  not  having  heard  that  it  was  in  question,  or,  as 
is  more  likely,  from  the  rest  of  his  conduct,  being  too  dis 
creet  to  say  anything  beforehand.  But,  at  this  point,  make 
their  appearance  in  Swedish  church  history,  two  men  of 
singular  importance,  King  Gustavus  I.,  and  the  papal  legate, 
John  Magnus.  • 

It  may,  with  certainty,  be  assumed  that  Gustavus  Wasa, 
during  the  nearly  eight  months  he  stayed  at  Lubeck,  be 
tween  the  years  1519  and  1520,  had  heard  of  the  proceed 
ings  within  the  church,  of  which  the  effects  were  soon  felt 
over  the  whole  of  the  German  dominions.  But  it  is  not 
known  how  much  attention,  amid  the  solicitude  for  his  own 
safety  and  the  welfare  of  his  native  country,  he  could  bestow 
upon  this  subject ;  or  what  leisure  his  mind  could  have,  after 
his  return  to  Sweden,  amid  the  first  three  years  of  care, 
anxiety,  and  strife,  to  presort  3  or  refresh  the  impression  he 
had  received — an  impression,  which  could  never  be  effaced 
from  his  soul — an  impression  imbibed  at  the  court  of  the 
younger  Sten  Sture,  and  in  the  wars  against  king  Christian 
and  archbishop  Trolle,  in  which,  before  his  being  carried  off 
to  Denmark,  he  took  an  active  part — an  impression  which  the 
massacre  of  Stockholm,  where  he  lost  father,  brother-in- 
law,  and  many  relatives,  must  have  acutely  deepened  in  his 
mind — an  impression  which  was  no  less  kept  alive  by  his  sub 
sequent  battles  for  freedom.  This  impression  was  a  deep  and 
inappeasable  hate  of  the  Roman  hierarchy.  lie  appears  from 
that  time  never  to  have  put  confidence  in  a  man  'who  be 
longed  to  it.  But  that  on  this  hate  he  grounded  any  plans 
for  Sweden's  future,  when  it  was  yet  a  question  whether 
Sweden  should  have  a  future,  is  not  probable. 

But  then,  when  hope  and  quiet  began  to  return,  and 
Gustavus  was  seated  on  Sweden's  throne,  he  could  not, 
while  staying  at  Strangness,  fail  to  hear  mentioned  the  new 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  79 

dogmas  there  preached.  He  also  heard  master  Olof 's  disciples 
preach,  and  found  in  them  the  vindicators  of  the  same  views 
to  which  he  was  himself  inclined.  Laurentius  Andreae, 
whom  he  summoned  to  acquaint  him  with  the  positions  of 
the  new  teaching,  opened  to  him  the  reasons  of  Luther's  line 
of  conduct,  the  papal  error,  the  hierarchy's  unjustifiable 
claims,  and  the  unlawfulness,  according  to  holy  scripture, 
of  its  worldly  power  and  dominion.  To  arrive  at  the  truth, 
the  king  procured  information  from  Germany ;  and  as  this 
corresponded  with  what  master  Lars  communicated  to  him, 
"he  readily  adopted  the  same  views,  and  made  daily  prog 
ress  therein." 

All  the  advices  we  have  from  and  of  this  period  unite  in 
assuring  us  that  King  Gustavus  became,  through  Laurentius  •  i 
Andrece,  decided  in  adopting  the  principles  of  the  Reforma 
tion,  and  was  entirely  won  to  them.  In  what  degree  a  live 
ly  spiritual  sensibility  operated  on  the  king's  mind,  as  it  was 
gradual,  and  for  some  time  resulted  in  no  open  declaration, 
it  is  scarce  possible  to  determine ;  while  it  would  be  unjust 
to  deny  him  all  pious  emotions  as  the  groundwork  of  his 
line  of  action.  One  thought,  one  determination,  one  fixed 
purpose,  filled  his  soul  and  fired  his  firm  heart :  to  establish 
the  freedom  and  independence  of  his  native  land,  and  secure " 
the  throne  to  which  God,  amid  great  perils,  and  by  a  won 
derful  providence,  had  elevated  him.  This  object  mingled 
with  all  his  thoughts,  and  influenced  his  whole  life.  The 
freedom  of  Sweden  and  establishment  of  her  church,  his  own 
kingly  dignity,  and  the  stirrings  of  piety  in  his  heart,  were 
fused  together  as  his  motives  to  action  ;•  and  although  states 
manship  and  policy  caused  him  to  throw  his  weight  into  the 
scale  against  the  church's  external  might, — these  can,  with 
little  justice,  be  offered  as  the  chief  or  only  motives  in  his 
movements  for  the  church's  reformation,  which,  it  may  be 
imrmed,  he  undertook  from  purely  spiritual  reasons. 

It  is  very  usual  to  attrlb  i^.e  to  King  Gustavus  either  great 


80  HISTOKY    OP   THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

praise  or  great  censure  for  having,  by  liis  will  or  by  his 
power,  forced  on  the  Reformation  in  the  Swedish  church  in 
which  he  made  use  of  men  who  were  his  willing  agents.  A 
closer  view  into  the  life  and  disposition  of  Gustavus  brings 
to  light,  in  connection  with  the  testimony  of  history,  the  fal 
sity  of  this  opinion.  The  king  was  irritable  and  quick  of 
temper,  but,  like  all  men  of  that  disposition,  pliable,  and 
easily  led  by  those  who  understood  how  to  win  his  confi 
dence.  In  combination  with  their  influence  and  vigor,  he 
threw  into  the  scale  the  weight  of  his  royal  power  and  au 
thority  ;  but  even  this  with  great  forbearance,  and  only  so 
far  as  he  saw  to  be  required  by  the  occurring  changes,  and 
the  fitness  for  them  of  his  people.  The  will  of  an  absolute 
prince  had  not  suffered  the  work  so  long  to  progress,  and  left 
it,  after  well  nigh  forty  years,  unfinished  and  incomplete  ;  had 
not  begun  a  reform  which  needed  two  of  the  ages  of  man  for 
its  completion  ;  had  not  given  his  work  a  slow  development, 
that,  for  the  first  time,  the  third  part  of  a  century  after,  his 
fourth  successor  on  the  Swedish  throne  might  then  put  the 
seal  of  perfection.  But  that  the  improvement  of  the  church 
was  indifferent  to  him,  except  as  a  means  of  gaining  and 
keeping  her  wealth,  is  an  accusation  which  the  following 
pages  will  refute.  We  shall  not,  however,  intentionally  con 
ceal  the  king's  defects,  which,  according  to  our  conviction,  do 
not  diminish  his  greatness  ai>d  his  merits  toward  the  church 
and  fatherland. 

At  the  diet  of  Striingness,  commences  a  brighter  prospect 
for  the  Reformation  of  the  church  in  Sweden ;  and  there 
dawns  a  hope  for  the  stability  of  its  temporal  strength.  At 
the  same  diet,  makes  his  appearance,  John  Magnus,  the 
papal  legate,  sent  hither  to  regulate  the  affairs  of  the  church. 

The  massacre  of  Stockholm  must  have  awakened  at  Rome,, 
the  more  attention  and  concern,  as  the  abominable  act  was 
committed  on  the  pretext  of  vindicating  the  church's  wrongs 
and  on  the  ground  of  her  commission.  King  Christian's 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  81 

other  arbitrary  acts ;  his  alarming  treatment  of  the  episcopal 
sees;  his  equivocal  leaning  to  a  reformation;  his  offer  to 
Luther  of  a  refuge  in  Denmark  when  his  life  was  jeoparded 
in  Germany ;  his  church  laws,  and  other  of  his  proceedings, 
could  not  but  awaken  doubts.  He  had  engaged  the  chapter 
of  Lund,  by  putting  aside  Ake  Sparre,  to  give  the  crosier  to 
George  Skotborg,  the  king's  secretary ;  but  when  this  man, 
whom  Christian  expected  readily  to  surrender  Bornholm 
when  put  in  the  archiepiscopal  chair,  refused  to  resign  his 
office,  the  attempt  was  made,  though  in  vain,  to  force  the 
chapter  to  elect  Didrik  Slagok.  The  papal  chair  was  not 
decidedly  favorable  to  Christian,  who,  partly  to  avoid  the 
threatening  consequence  of  the  measures  by  which  he  had 
given  offence  to  the  church,  and  partly  to  get  confirmed  his 
nomination  of  the  bishop  he  wished,  sent,  in  the  years  1520 
and  1521,  several  embassadors  to  Rome.  He  obtained  the 
promise  of  Didrik's  confirmation,  in  virtue  of  the  supremacy 
by  which  the  pope,  during  the  later  periods  of  the  middle 
ages,  found  himself  able  to  annul  the  election  of  the  chap 
ters,  and  to  appoint  bishops  independently  of  them. 

But  the  loud  complaints  of  the  Swedes,  in  the  pope's 
name,  averted  the  act  of  violence,  and  the  general  abhor 
rence  it  awakened,  together  with  the  church's  danger,  did 
not  allow  pope  Leo  X.  to  seem  indifferent.  In  September, 
1521,  there  came  to  Kopenham,  John  Francis  de  Potentia, 
from  Naples,  a  Franciscan  monk,  as  legate  of  the  pope. 
The  investigation  made,  resulted  in  the  legate's  condemna 
tion  of  what  had  passed  at  Stockholm,  and  the  sentence  that 
had  been  executed.  Didrik  Slagok  was  made  the  sin- 
offering  for  the  king's  offences  against  the  church.  After  a 
trial  by  torture,  this  man,  who  from  a  low  origin,  and  a 
beginning  of  little  promise,  had  been  elevated  to  the 
place,  which  in  the  Scandinavian  North,  was  next  the  king's 
throne,  was  hanged  and  burnt,  on  January  24th,  1522,  in 
the  market-place  of  Kopenham. 

4* 


82  HISTORY    OF   THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

In  Sweden  there  had  long  been  desired,  as  a  necessity, 
the  intervention  of  a  legate.  Against  the  blood-thirsty  king 
himself  men  anxiously  awaited  the  restraining  justice  of  the 
highest  moral  guardian  of  order.  The  sentence  which  pun 
ished  the  official  tools  could  not,  in  the  eyes  of  the  sufferers, 
expiate  the  crime,  and  gave  only  occasion  to  increased  dis 
content.  But,  at  Rome,  there  had  already  appeared,  unex 
pected  and  uncalled,  an  advocate  for  his  countrymen,  the 
Swedish  people. 

This  man  was  John  Magnus.  Born  in  the  year  1488, 
at  Linkoping,  of  which  his  father  was  a  burgher,  he  had,  at 
the  age  of  sixteen,  after  receiving  instruction  at  home,  and 
an  examination  before  the  bishops  and  chapters  of  Linkop 
ing  and  Skara,  become  canon  of  both  these  churches.  He 
afterward  went  to  the  universities  of  Louvain  and  Cologne, 
and  was,  at  the  former,  a  pupil  of  the  then  professor,  the 
learned  and  pious  Adrian  of  Utrecht,  afterward  pope  Adrian 
VI.  He  was  subsequently  sent  by  Stcn  Sture,  the  younger, 
to  Home,  to  attend  to  the  affairs  of  the  regent  and  his  native 
country,  and  he  there  employed  the  opportunities  which 
offered  for  his  own  improvement.  After  the  death  of  Sture, 
he  withdrew  to  Perugia,  where  he  occupied  the  chair  of 
theology.  But  when  the  news  of  the  massacre  of  Stock 
holm  reached  his  ears,  he  hastened  back  to  Rome,  and  ap 
peared  before  Leo  X.,  in  the  name  of  the  Swedish  people 
and  of  justice,  demanding  vengeance  for  the  cruel  deed.  He 
had  thus  been  the  means  of  procuring  the  mission  of  the 
above-named  legate.  But  as  the  issue  of  this  mission  did 
not  prove  satisfactory,  John  considered  his  self-imposed  duty 
not  completed. 

Leo  X.  died,  December  1st,  1521,  and  left  in  full  flame 
the  fire  which  his  course  had  not  so  much  enkindled  as  given 
occasion  to  break  forth.  To  him  succeeded,  February  2d, 
1522,  the  emperor  Charles  V.'s  former  preceptor,  Adrian,  a 
man,  according  to  the  opinion  held  of  him,  "  too  good  in  those 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  83 

times  to  be  a  pope,"  and  the  last  of  the  few  men  born  out  of 
Italy  who  wore  the  triple  crown.  He  was  not  a  friend  of 
the  new  views,  but  he  concealed  neither  from  himself  nor 
others,  that  the  dissoluteness  of  the  hierarchy  was  the  root 
of  the  church's  disasters.  "  You  may  say,"  he  writes,  in  his 
directions  to  his  legate,  at  the  German  diet  of  Nuremberg, 
in  1522,  "  that  we  confess  that  God  has  sent  this  persecu 
tion  (the  Lutheran  heresy)  for  the  sins  of  men,  and  chiefly 
for  those  of  the  clergy.  The  Scriptures  show,  that  the  sins 
of  the  people  flow  from  the  sins  of  the  priests.  We  know 
that  vices,  for  many  years,  have  crept  into  this  holy  chair, 
abuses  into  holy  things,  transgressions  of  the  laws,  perver 
sions  in  all.  It  is,  therefore,  not  surprising  that  maladies 
press  from  the  head  to  the  members,  from  the  popes  to  the 
inferior  prelates.  We,  prelates  and  churchmen,  have  all 
gone,  each  one  his  own  way.  For  a  long  time  none  have 
done  good,  no  not  one.  Therefore  must  we  all  give  praise 
and  honor  to  God,  and  humble  our  souls.  May  every  one 
see  in  what  he  has  fallen,  and  recover  himself,  rather  than 
be  scourged  of  the  displeasure  and  indignation  of  God." 

This  man  could  not  be  deaf  to  the  complaints  of  the 
Swedish  people.  He  determined  to  send  to  Sweden  as  legate 
of  the  apostolic  see  his  former  pupil,  John  Magnus,  the 
zealous  for  his  fatherland  and  its  church.  The  legate  imme 
diately  commenced  his  journey,  provided  with  the  necessary 
letters  of  commission,  and  sundry  directions  of  the  pope  to 
the  bishop  of  Linkoping,  to  whom  the  pope  declares  his 
satisfaction  at  the  pious  zeal  he  had  manifested  for  the  pure 
truth,  and  especially  for  the  extirpation  of  the  monstrous 
dogmas  of  Martin  Luther,  which  had  begun  to  spread  over 
these  regions.  Adrian  exhorts  him  to  persevere  ;  apprizes 
him  that  he  has  determined  to  send  to  Sweden  John  Magnus, 
his  notary  and  chamberlain,  in  whose  truth,  learning,  and 
probity,  he  had  the  utmost  confidence,  to  extirpate  the  Lu 
theran  delusion,  to  strengthen  the  hearts  of  the  faithful,  and 


84  HISTORY    OP    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

in  general  have  a  care  of  affairs  appertaining  to  the  faith. 
Brask  was  admonished  to  be  aiding  and  assisting  the  legate ? 
and  to  regard  him  with  the  same  confidence  as  if  the  pope 
himself  was  heard  speaking. 

John,  who  had  also  a  commission  to  effect  a  reconciliation 
between  king  Sigismund  of  Poland,  and  Albrekt,  grand  mas 
ter  or  duke  of  Prussia,  but  found  them  already  reconciled  ; 
hastened  to  take  ship  at  Dantzic,  then  the  usual  port  of  pas 
sage  for  Sweden  ;  landed  at  Stegeborg,  and  arrived  after  three 
days'  journey  at  Striingness,  without  having  time  to  commu 
nicate  with  Brask,  who,  through  real  or  pretended  sickness, 
was  absent  from  the  diet,  and,  as  appears  from  his  corre 
spondence,  was  then  staying  at  Norsholm  or  Linkoping.  The 
legate  came  to  Striingness  the  day  after,  or  at  least  soon  after 
the  Gth  of  June ;  that  day  of  election  when  Gustavus  Wasa 
was  crowned  king  of  the  Swedes  and  Goths.  He  was  re 
ceived  in  Sweden  with  the  customary  solemnities. 

It  soon  appeared  that  the  purpose  of  the  legate's  coming 
was  not  understood,  and  there  was  discontent  at  the  plenary 
power  with  which  he  was  invested.  A  fresh  investigation 
of  archbishop  Trolle's  conduct,  an  amelioration  of  the 
church's  excessive  powers,  as  well  as  a  commission  to  exam 
ine  into  king  Christian's  proceedings,  had  been  expected ; 
but  the  legate  was  only  anxious  or  authorized,  in  the  first 
place,  to  root  out  the  Lutheran  heresy. 

The  legate  himself  could  not  but  see  that  he  could  do 
nothing  toward  this  object  in  the  disordered  condition  of  the 
Swedish  church,  under  an  archbishop  sentenced  by  the  diet 
as  a  traitor  to  his  country,  and  now  in  exile  ;  while,  except 
the  inactive  Ingemar  of  Wexio,  she  had  only  a  single  con 
secrated  bishop,  and  was  in  a  state  of  desolation  from  a  war 
that  had  dissipated  the  strength  of  both  church  and  state. 
John,  as  well  as  the  king,  perceived  that  he  must  return  to 
give  an  account  to  the  pope  of  the  condition  of  the  Swedish 
church  and  obtain  more  ample  powers.  Already  had  the 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  85 

estates  and  the  senate  written,  on  the  12th  of  June,  a  letter 
to  the  pope,  which  was  prepared  to  be  carried  by  the  legate, 
and  which  shows  the  state  of  things.  "  The  legate,"  they 
said,  "  had  presented  the  subjects  which  he  had  to  deliver 
on  the  part  of  the  pope,  respecting  the  welfare  of  the  king 
dom  and  church  of  Sweden.  He  had,  in  a  convincing 
manner,  engaged  them  to  enter  into  the  views  of  his  holi 
ness  ;  that  they  desired,  as  much  as  they  could,  to  promote 
and  maintain  the  honor  and  stability  of  the  apostolic  chair- 
•  The  legate  had  assured  them  that  the  pope,  was  disposed  to  re 
form  the  Christian  church,  and  they  were  in  hope  he  would 
have  a  care  that  such  bishops  were  chosen  in  Sweden  as  far 
more  promoted  peace  and  harmony  among  their  fellow-citi 
zens,  than  the  seditious  Gustavus  Trolle  had  done  in  the 
times  lately  passed.  This  archbishop  had  so  misused  his 
episcopal  rank  to  produce  war  and  discord,  that  it  would 
seem  of  the  singular  grace  of  God,  the  respect  for  the 
church  was  not  wholly  and  entirely  lost  among  them.  They 
had  exhibited  proof  of  his  bad  conduct  and  loose  habits, 
before  the  legate,  who  would  lay  a  true  report  before  the 
pope ;  and  because  Trolle  had  abdicated  his  office,  and  gone 
over  to  their  foe,  king  Christian  of  Denmark,  they  had  unan 
imously  and  forever  banished  him.  His  holiness  was  called 
on  especially  to  look  to  the  interest  of  the  tottering  church 
of  Upsala,  on  whose  eminence  and  worth  well  nigh  the 
whole  of  the  Northern  church's  welfare  depended.  It  had, 
of  late  years,  suffered  many  losses,  and  could  not  be  saved, 
unless  a  new  archbishop,  by  great  prudence  and  the  king's 
confidence  and  favor,  could  reinstate  it  in  its  former  privi 
leges.  In  this  they  were  desirous  to  co-operate  as  soon  as 
they  found  the  pope  disposed  to  exert  himself  for  its  re-es 
tablishment.  Many  errors  had,  during  the  disorders  and 
confusions  in  the  kingdom,  crept  into  the  faith,  and  could 
not  easily  be  removed ;  therefore  they  prayed  that  the  em- 
bassador  of  his  holiness,  John  Magnus,  already  appointed  a 


86  HISTORY    OP    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

bishop  in  their  land,  might  return  to  them,  furnished  with 
full  authority  by  the  holy  see,  and  with  the  laudable  pru 
dence  they  had  found  in  him,  to  make  the  necessary  regula 
tions  for  the  outward  discipline  of  the  church,  and  for  the 
conservation  of  the  faith." 

It  is  little  probable  that  this  letter,  delivered  to  the  legate, 
ever  came  to  Rome.  John  remained  three  whole  years  in 
Sweden,  and  the  relation  of  things  was  soon  very  materially 
changed.  But  the  document  exhibits  the  opinions  and 
views  which  in  Sweden  were  commonly  entertained.  Cases 
were  here  put  according  to  their  importance,  in  another 
fashion  than  that  by  which  it  was  customary  to  judge  them 
at  Rome.  The  abdication  of  Trolle  was  first  considered,  of 
which  the  pope  was  put  in  mind,  that  he  himself  abdi 
cated  his  office,  and  was  obliged  to  go  into  exile.  Then,  if 
his  doom  of  abdication  by  the  estates,  in  1517,  was  consid 
ered  a  nullity,  it  was  acknowledged  there  was  a  trespass 
against  the  existing  law  of  the  church;  but  his  removal 
from  the  archiepiscopal  chair  of  Upsala  was,  and  remained, 
the  primary  condition  of  Sweden's  return  to  obedience. 
The  confirmation  of  the  election  of  bishops  and  their  con 
secration,  was  expected  or  recognized ;  but  that  the  usual, 
and  in  later  times  continually  increased  imposts,  should  go 
from  the  land  into  the  papal  chancery,  was  not  to  be  thought 
of.  In  the  third  place,  after  discipline  should  be  restored  to 
the  church,  attention  was  to  be  paid  to  the  extirpation  of 
errors ;  but  these  were  only  indefinitely  mentioned,  and  seem 
to  have  been  considered  as  the  means  of  engaging  the  pope 
to  compliance  in  other  points.  A  severance  from  the  Roman 
chair  was  not  then  thought  of;  but  with  self-confidence  and 
— the  consciousness  of  strength,  as  in  a  strife  for  freedom,  it 
was  as  little  thought  that  there  should  be  submission  (to  all 
that  came  from  Rome. 


REFORMATION   IN    SAVEDEN. 


CHAPTER    V. 

LAURENTIUS  ANDREW,  THE  KING'S  CHANCELLOR— JOHN  MAGNUS 
ELECTED  ARCHBISHOP— PROCEEDINGS  AT  ROME  IN  RESPECT  TO 
THE  ELECTION  AND  CONFIRMATION  OP  BISHOPS  TILL  THE  YEAR 
1527. 

LAURENTIUS  ANDREW  won  the   confidence  of  the  kino1 

O 

during  his  stay  at  Striingness,  in  1523.  After  the  diet  held 
in  that  place,  he  was  called  to  be  the  king's  chancellor ;  an 
office  which,  for  the  three  hundred  years  it  was  found  in 
Sweden,  was  held  by  churchmen,  cither  at  the  time  bishops 
or  afterward  made  such.  Known  and  tried  fitness  must 
have  gained  him  this  post,  on  which  he  entered  in  the  course 
of  this  summer.  Thus  was  the  most  prominent  of  the 
friends  of  ecclesiastical  freedom  placed  in  immediate  con 
nection  with  the  king,  and  obtained  in  his  councils  the 
strongest  influence.  Pie  took  a  place,  also,  at  least  not  later 
than  in  1526,  among  the  senators  of  the  kingdom,  and  held, 
in  connection  with  the  archdeaconship  of  Striingness,  the 
presidency  of  the  chapter  of  Upsala,  after  the  flight  of  Sven 
Eriksson,  who  took  his  departure  with  G-ustavus  Trolle,  and 
who  lived  to  the  year  1532. 

The  influence  of  Laurentius  with  Gustavus  I.  commenced 
at  the  same  time  with  the  appearance  of  John  Magnus  as 
papal  legate  in  Sweden.  The  point  of  time  was  moment 
ous,  and  the  business  of  the  legate  in  the  highest  degree  in 
tricate  and  important.  How  should  he  reconcile  the  pope's 
reluctance  to  give  up  the  unworthy  Trolle,  with  the  settled, 
decided  determination  of  his  countrymen  not  again  to  receive 
him  as  archbishop  of  Sweden  ?  How  should  he  be  able,  by 


88  HISTORY    OF   THE   ECCLESIASTICAL 

filling  the  vacant  sees,  to  protect  the  supremacy  of  Rome  and 
her  interests  ?  If  the  newly-elected  king  was  so  fortunate 
as  to  defend,  and  on  his  head  to  seat  the  crown  stretched  out 
to  him,  would  he  be  found,  amid  the  storms  of  human  strife 
and  the  menaced  defection  from  Rome,  to  be  an  obedient  son 
of  the  church  ?  Which  of  them  would  win  his  ear  and  mind, 
the  skillful  and  confident  Laurentius  Andrew,  and  the  indefati 
gable  and  undaunted  herald  of  the  new  faith,  OlausPetri,  or  the 
temporizing  policy  of  the  legate,  or  the  old  interests  on  an  un 
altered  basis,  ivith  Brask  for  their  sponsor  ?  There  was, 
amid  all  casualties  and  as  opposed  to  the  more  liberal  views, 
the  possibility  of  again  raising  the  old  bulwark  of  the 
church's  constitution,  broken  and  impaired  by  the  indiscre 
tion  and  imprudence  of  its  apologists. 

Was  John  Magnus  the  right  man,  in  an  hour  so  decisive, 
to  be  a  leader  in  the  church's  cause  ?  Integrity,  modera 
tion,  and  a  well-intentioned  mind,  are  the  qualities  necessary 
for  him  who  has  undertaken  the  critical  problem  it  was  now 
the  part  of  John  to  solve.  But  he  had  also  two  defects,  and 
these  among  the  most  fatal  for  a  man  in  his  position — irres 
olution  and  vanity  ;  and  in  addition  to  these,  what  is  common 
with  many,  in  times  of  revolution,  a  temporizing  disposi 
tion. 

It  was,  perhaps,  vanity  which  tempted  John  to  hasten  to 
Strangness  without  having  met  Brask  and  consulted  with 
him  on  the  affairs  of  the  church.  It  seems  as  if  he  did  not 
wish  to  share  with  any  one  the  honor  of  reconciling  the 
existing  contentions.  Bishop  Brask  laments  that  he  did  not 
meet  with  the  legate,  who  seems,  in  his  haste,  not  even  to 
have  delivered  the  pope's  letter  to  him.  He  had  learned,  so 
he  writes  on  the  loth  of  July,  that  the  legate  had  concluded 
to  take  his  departure  without  their  meeting  together  to  con 
sult  on  the  affairs  of  the  Swedish  kingdom  and  church,  and 
rooting  out  the  Lutheran  heresy.  This  heresy  was  a  source 
to  him  of  pain  upon  pain.  He  suffered  from  sickness,  but 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  89 

still  more  from  the  spread  of  heresy  through  a  master  Olof 
of  Striingness.  Olof 's  errors,  a  copy  of  which  was  commu 
nicated  to  the  legate,  had  become  so  openly  promulgated  that 
he  could  not  with  honor  and  conscience  leave  them  without 
investigation  and  correction.  lie  might  add  to  his  troubles 
the  heads  of  the  chapters  who  were  attached  to  the  pope. 
Inquisition  ought  to  be  appointed  in  all  the  dioceses,  to 
watch  over  the  purity  of  the  faith.  The  legate  should  also 
see  that  there  should  be  brought  before  a  spiritual  tribunal, 
the  complaints  made  against  churchmen.  There  was  danger 
that  what  happened  yesterday  might  happen  on  the  morrow. 
The  church's  privileges  had  been  seized,  on  the  plea  that 
there  was  no  justice  in  the  spiritual  courts.  The  legate 
should  labor  to  recover  to  the  church  the  immunities  she 
had  enjoyed  for  more  than  three  hundred  years,  and  which 
the  king,  when  he  was  called  at  Wadsten  to  the  administra 
tion  of  the  government,  promised  to  preserve.  It  would 
also  be  important  to  protect  the  church  in  case  of  a  large 
assessment  by  the  king.  Such  was  the  language  and  such 
the  views  of  Brask. 

But  the  legate  procrastinated,  and  did  nothing  of  all  that 
to  which  Brask  prompted  him.  He  was  satisfied  on  his 
part  with  wishes,  ideas,  consultations.  Pie  speaks,  in  his 
letter,  written  at  this  time,  of  being  able  to  effect  what  had 
long  been  passing  in  his  mind,  in  regard  to  the  advancement 
of  truth  and  the  church ;  "  but  the  unhappy  state  of  the 
times,  operated  against  his  devout  wishes  and  strenuous 
endeavors."  The  king  promised  him  to  sustain  the  church's 
immunities ;  declared  himself  averse  to  the  maltreatment  of 
the  peasantry  of  the  church  by  his  subordinates;  had 
avouched  his  dissatisfaction  with  the  extortions  which  times 
of  necessity  had  occasioned,  and  promised  that  his  attention 
would  be  directed,  when  the  kingdom  was  restored  to  quiet, 
to  have  the  forced  loans  refunded.  The  king  had  also, 
obligated  himself  to  check  the  Lutheran  heresy;  but  had 


90  HISTORY    OF   THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

begged  the  legate,  with  caution  and  gentleness,  not  with 
bulls,  to  execute  his  commission  in  this  respect,  as  otherwise, 
the  whole  Swedish  church  would  be  put  in  commotion. 
John  was  aware  that  the  sterner  modes  of  the  church  inter 
vention  had  in  other  lands  kindled  an  unquenchable  fire. 
He  negotiated  with  the  men  of  Striingness,  and  had  their 
promise  to  refrain  from  new  doctrines,  and  in  writing  to 
attack  no  one,  if  themselves  were  not  drawn  into  controversy 
by  others.  "  Your  grace,"  he  writes  complacently  to 
Brask,  on  August  1st,  1523,  "may  be  assured  that  my 
coming  to  Sweden  has  not  been  without  its  fruits.  I  may 
soon  leave  it.  I  came  here.  I  examined  the  sore,  the  more 
effectually  to  heal  it."  He  should  return  the  following 
summer,  or  get  the  direction  of  the  affairs  of  the  Swedish 
church  to  be  left  in  the  hands  of  Brask. 

Soon  after  this,  the  business  of  the  legate  became  so 
entangled,  that  he  could  neither  depart  nor  effect  anything. 
Five  of  the  old  episcopal  sees  of  Sweden,  were  contempo 
raneously  in  need  of  consecrated  shepherds.  Skara  and 
Striingness,  vacant  by  the  murder  of  their  incumbents  in 
1520,  were  again  so  when  Didrik  Slagok,  and  John 
Bellenake,  intruded  by  Christian,  were  obliged,  with  the 
declining  fortunes  of  that  king,  surreptitiously  to  leave  the 
land.  The  disasters  of  the  times  caused  two  other  vacancies, 
by  the  death  of  Otto  of  Westeras,  and  Arvid  of  Abo.  In 
the  year  1522,  thoughts  were  entertained  of  placing  new 
bishops  in  the  sees.  For  Upsala  was  elected,  or  at  least 
proposed,  master  Knut,  chancellor  of  the  regent,  and  the 
propositus  of  Westeras.  For  Skara,  Christian's  preference 
being  disregarded,  and  the  chapter  disapproving  its  previous 
forced  election,  Magnus  Haraldsson,  archdeacon  there,  was 
chosen.  For  Striingness,  the  propositus  of  the  chapter, 
Magnus  Sommar.  For  Westeras,  he  that  was  deacon  there, 
the  dangerous  Per  or  Peter  Sunnanvader,  who  now  returned, 
and  was  absolved  from  accountability.  Abo,  which  was 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  91 

held  by  the  followers  of  Christian,  could  not  be  provided  for. 
But  Upsala  and  Westeras  were  soon  again  declared  vacant 
by  king  Gustavus,  when  master  Knut  and  Peter  Sunnan- 
vader,  were  deposed  in  September,  1523,  for  their  turbulent 
machinations.  The  king,  as  soon  as  sure  proofs  of  the 
treason  of  Sunnanvader  were  in  his  hands,  had  hastened  to 
Westeras,  placed  this  proof  before  the  chapter,  and  declared 
the  elected  bishop  unworthy  of  the  office ;  and  soon  after 
declared  the  same  of  provost  Knut.  He  also  desired  the 
chapter  immediately  to  proceed  to  a  new  election,  of  which, 
the  legate  preparing  for  his  departure,  might  procure  confir 
mation  at  Rome.  As  the  canons  were  at  a  loss  where  to 
find  a  suitable  man,  the  king  proposed  the  administrator  of 
the  house  of  St.  Bridget  at  Home,  Petrus  Magni,  who  was 
accordingly  elected.  The  pope  confirmed  this  election,  and 
after  having  been  consecrated  at  Home,  he  came  home,  in 
the  year  1524,  and  took  his  seat  in  the  senate  of  the  diet — 
the  last  bishop,  who,  by  virtue  of  his  office,  there  had  a  seat 
and  voice,  as  he  was  the  last  Roman  catholic  bishop  who 
was  consecrated  to  his  office,  before  the  Reformation  took 
place  in  1527. 

In  September,  1523,  the  legate  undertook  the  purposed 
return  to  Rome,  which  he  had  contemplated  ever  since  his 
arrival.  The  king  now  wrote  to  the  pope,  and  "  declared 
the  delight  which  the  coming  of  the  legate  had  given  him 
and  all  his  people,  and  lamented  that  the  envoy  could  not 
effect  the  perfect  re-establishment  of  the  Swedish  church,  the 
cause  of  which  was  the  tottering  condition  of  the  cathedral 
churches,  which  had  now,  for  some  years,  been,  without 
bishops.  The  appointment  of  these  was,  above  all,  conse 
quential  ;  and  after  this  took  place  at  Rome,  and  the  legate 
returned  with  full  powers,  the  king  would  aid  him  in  all 
matters  that  concerned  the  church's  dignity  and  Christian 
truth,  according  to  the  determination  of  the  bishops  to 
extirpate  all  heresy,  to  bring  the  schismatical  Russians  to 


HISTORY   OP   THE   ECCLESIASTICAL 

the  unity  of  the  church,  and  Lapland  to  the  faith  of  Christ, 
The  legate  had  urged  the  king  to  have  pity  of  the  church's 
privileges.  For  these  the  king  had  contended  against  king 
Christian,  the  church's  most  ferocious  foe.  He  would  not 
now  let  them  suffer  any  wrong ;  if  only  the  apostolic  chair 
appointed  such  bishops  as  were  content  within  their  limits,  and 
had  a  care  for  peace  and  harmony  among  the  Icing's  subjects — 
such  as  so  vindicated  the  church' s'privileges,  that  they  did  no 
farm  to  the  crown.  The  king  desired  not  this,  to  restrain 
the  free  appointment  of  bishops  by  his  holiness,  who  by  his 
holy  manners  had  already  improved  the  church,  but  to  knit 
the  firm  alliance,  which  at  this  period  was  so  necessary, 
between  spiritual  men  and  men  of  the  world.  The  legate 
knew  who  were  the  men  acceptable  to  the  king,  and  useful 
to  the  church,  and  therefore  suitable  for  bishops.  The 
king  had  conceived  such  confidence  in  the  legate,  he  wished 
the  pope  to  intrust  to  him  the  reformation  of  the  church." 

It  is  impossible  not  to  be  struck  with  the  open  and  free, 
the  firm  and  dignified  mode  of  address  in  this  letter  of  the 
king.  Adrian  VI.  had,  through  his  own  uprightness  here, 
as  in  Germany,  called  forth  this  candor.  Men  immediately 
laid  hold  on  his  promise  of  reform.  This  letter  is  also  the 
first  known  act  subscribed  on  the  king's  order  by  Laurentius 
Andreae,  as  Gustavus's  chancellor.  Immediately  on  his 
entrance  into  the  service  of  his  majesty,  he  prepares  a 
draft  of  the  programme  of  the  recess  of  Westeras  in  1527. 

The  letter  of  the  king  was  given  on  September  10,  1523. 
A  few  days  later,  September  14,  the  king  wrote  again  to  the 
pope,  and  requested  confirmation  of  the  bishops'  election 
The  provost  and  chapter  had  solicited  the  king,  to  write  to 
the  pope  in  behalf  of  the  men  who  had  been  canonical!}' 
elected  as  bishops.  All  these  were  then  enumerated, 
but  first  John  Magnus,  as  elected  to  the  see  of  Upsala. 
Abo  alone  is  announced,  as  unable  from  the  tumults  of 
war,  to  proceed  to  the  election  of  a  bishop.  All  those 


REFORMATION   IN    SWEDEN.  93 

elected  were  acceptable  to  the  king,  and  he  therefore 
requested  confirmation  for  them,  and  that  as  soon  as 
possible.  But  he  also  asked  his  holiness  to  remit  the  taxes 
paid  to  the  apostolic  chamber,  because  those  churches  were 
reduced  to  the  utmost  poverty,  and  plundered,  and  the 
bishops  elect  had  applied  and  must  daily  apply  their 
income  against  the  foes  of  the  privileges  of  the  church.  By 
this  liberality  the  apostolic  chair  would  win  great  interest  in 
the  king  and  the  kingdom,  and  the  former  to  great  obsequi 
ousness. 

On  the  same  day  this  was  written  at  Stockholm,  died,  at 
Koine,  the  man  to  whom  it  was  addressed,  Adrian  VI.     In    <— 
November,  Clement  VII. ,  cousin-german  to  Leo  X.,  succeeded 
to  the  papal  dignity ;  and  with  him  came  the  old  policy  of 
Rome,  to  yield  nothing.     There  was  now  no  more  question 
of  reform  ;  and  what  might  be  hoped  from  the  pious  and  — 
well-meaning  Adrian,  it  were  vain  to  expect  from  Clement. 

But  even  in  pope  Adrian  had  Sweden  been  mistaken, 
when  entertaining  the  ardent  wish  to  be  entirely  delivered  ~"~ 
from  archbishop  Trollc.  The  Roman  chair  had  not  ap-  - 
proved  of  Trolle's  deposition.  The  chapter  of  Upsala  now 
elected  his  successor ;  probably  regarding  the  former 
sentence  upon  him  to  be  fully  ratified  by  what  had  occurred 
in  1520,  in  the  outrage  at  Stockholm.  This  election, 
perhaps,  took  place  between  the  10th  and  14th  of  Septem 
ber,  as  in  the  abo.ve-mentioned  letter.  There  is  no  mention 
of  a  wish  to  have  the  legate  as  archbishop.  John  stood 
prepared  to  take  his  departure  for  Rome,  to  obtain  confir 
mation  for  himself  and  the  others.  The  king  had  fitted  out 
a  ship  to  transport  him  to  Germany ;  when  at  the  moment 
he  was  about  to  embark,  there  came  a  letter  which  changed 
the  relation  of  things.  The  pope  wrote,  and  enjoined, 
under  threat  of  the  church's  correction,  that  the  banished  _^. 
archbishop  should  be  again  received  in  Sweden  and  into 
his  office.  Was  this  a  mere  respect  for  the  church's  laws, 


94  HISTORY    OF   THE   ECCLESIASTICAL 

disregarded  in  the  treatment  which  Trolle  received,  or  more 
over  a  colored  and  apologetic  view  of  his  conduct  founded 
upon  the  report  of  John  Francis  de  Potentia,  when  legate  ? 
or  was  it  through  the  influence  of  the  emperor  Charles  V. , 
who  might  suppose  that  by  Trolle's  reinstatement,  a  way 
might  be  opened  for  his  own  brother-in-law's  recall  to  his 
reconciled  kingdom  ?  or  was  it  to  furnish,  although  he  was 
already  provided  for,  the  same  bait  for  John  Magnus,  as  for 
Arciinbold,  in  the  hope  of  being  raised  to  Trolle's  place,  if 
he  was  got  rid  of?  or  what  other  motive  originated  this 
unexpected  letter?  These  are  questions  we  are  the  less 
able  to  answer,  as  the  letter  is  only  known  to  us  by  the 
king's  reply.  The  surprise,  regret,  and  indignation,  which 
were  expressed  upon  the  favor  shown  to  Trolle  by  the  pope, 
were  a  sufficiently  clear  indication  of  what  was  to  follow. 
Among  other  things  it  is  said,  in  the  king's  answer  :  "  We 
have  not  been  able  to  receive  this  communication  otherwise, 
than  as  if  your  holiness  had  ordered  us  to  interrupt  or  anni 
hilate  the  peace  of  our  church  and  fatherland,  which,  with 
our  own  and  the  blood  of  ours,  we  had  gained.  Harsh  to 
the  kingdom  and  the  Swedish  church,  was  the  Danish  king 
Christian,  who  cruelly  murdered  bishops  and  nobles,  but  no 
less  harshly  would  the  apostolic  see  act,  in  regard  to  our 
quiet,  if  it  intruded,  to  the  disturbance  of  our  commonwealth, 
I  this  archbishop,  the  close  ally  and  most  cruel  accomplice  of 
Christian.  We  had  long  waited,  holy  father,  to  see  what 
the  pope  of  Rome  would  do  against  the  aforenamed  king 
Christian,  for  his  sacrilegious  slaughter  of  bishops ;  and  now 
the  apostolic  see  takes  this  bishop,  the  foremost  co-operator 
in  the  godless  murder,  under  its  protection,  and  wishes  again 
to  place  him  on  the  pinnacle  of  the  Swedish  church, 
whose  liberties  he  has  thrown  to  the  ground.  It  were  a 
grief  to  us,  that  the  apostolic  see  should  not  avenge  the 
godless  murder  of  the  bishops.  But,  still  less  can  we  endure 
that  this  archbishop  should  return  to  Sweden,  who  is  not 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  95 

only  unworthy  of  the  priesthood,  but  of  life  itself.  We 
acknowledge  ourselves  to  hold  in  such  high  reverence  the  \ 
holy  Roman  church,  that  we  would  willingly  offer  our  blood 
and  life  for  it ;  but  this  act  of  severity,  which  threatens  our 
commonwealth  with  such  disasters,  we  shall  endeavor  to 
arrest,  with  our  blood,  if  so  required,  and  will  show,  if 
it  be  necessary,  in  the  face  of  all  Christian  princes,  how  justi 
fiably  we  have  resisted  such  an  outrage.  Well  did  the  afore 
named  envoy,  John  Magnus,  endeavor  to  convince  us,  that 
never  did  such  a  brief  emanate  from  the  apostolic  see,  but 
that  it  was  dictated  and  concocted  by  some  illy-disposed 
men,  who  sought  occasion  for  scandal ;  and  we  have  given 
some  credit  to  what  he  says,  for  the  honor  of  the  apostolic 
see.  But  in  consequence  of  this  news,  our  intention  to  send 
him  to  your  holiness  has  become  changed,  until  we  find  out 
what  your  holiness  will  do  in  the  case  of  the  afore-mentioned 
archbishop,  for  our  weal  and  the  quiet  of  our  subjects.  As 
soon  as  we  ascertain  this,  we  shall  either,  according  to  your 
holiness'  pleasure,  effectually  aid  this  embassador  in  all  the 
points  of  Christian  faith,  or  give  him  liberty  to  leave  us,  in 
order  to  announce  in  ivhat  manner,  as  a  consequence  of  the 
tardiness  of  the  apostolic  see,  the  Swedish  church  shall  be """ 
reformed  by  our  royal  authority.  God  is  our  witness,  how 
ardently  we  wish  the  church  herself,  through  the  authority 
of  your  holiness,  and  the  decrees  of  the  fathers,  to  be 
placed  on  a  better  footing,  since  it  is  altogether  necessary,  and 
the  sooner  the  letter,  that  a  Reformation  should  take  place  w, 
her  spiritual  and'temporal  condition. 

The  cause  of  Gustavus  Trolle  was  irremediably  lost  in,, 
Sweden.     The  diet  of  Soderkoping,  in  October,  1523,  again  | 
declared  him  the  foe  of  the  country,  until  he  could  make 
atonement  to  the  king  and  kingdom  ;  and  the  estates  ap 
proved  the  election  of  John  Magnus  as  his  successor.     Trolle 
had  written  to  bishop  Brask,  who  was  then  at  Soderkoping, 
to  try  and  effect  his  restoration  ;  but  received  from  this,  in 


96  HISTORY    OF   THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

other  cases,  so  prudent  man,  a  harsh  answer,  which  did 
honor  to  Brask's  patriotic  heart.  Trolle  had,  on  so  many 
accounts,  made  himself  odious  in  his  native  land,  that  Brask 
advises  him  to  make 'no  further  attempts  to  return,  but  have 
recourse  to  God,  who  disposes  the  destinies  of  men.  Brask 
wished  to  partake  the  welfare,  and  resemble  the  other  in 
habitants  of  the  kingdom ;  and  because  he  determined  to 
live  and  die  for  the  freedom  of  the  kingdom,  he  requests  the 
archbishop  not  to  incur  any  further  pains  and  expense  in 
writing  to  him. 

It  appears,  at  this  time,  to  have  been  considered,  that  the 
archiepiscopal  chair  was  not  vacant,  till  a  spiritual  sentence 
confirmed  the  deposition  of  Trolle.  In  the  month  of  Octo 
ber  such  a  sentence  was  pronounced  by  the  legate,  and 
Trolle  declared  unworthy  of  his  office.  Perhaps,  also,  the 
legate  was  willing  to  take  into  account,  the  vacancy  in  the 
Roman  see,  after  the  death  of  Adrian.  But  if  the  archi- 
episcopal  chair,  not  legally  vacant  before,  became  so  only 
after  this  sentence,  then  the  previous  election  of  John  was 
invalid.  Wherefore  the  king  called  together  the  chapter  of 
Upsala,  where,  on  November  23,  John  was  again  unani 
mously  made  archbishop. 

Olaus  Magnus,  the  brother  of  the  elected  archbishop,  is 
said  to  have  gone  to  Home,  at  the  close  of  the  year  1523, 
on  his  own  and  the  king's  business.  But  his  business  with 
Clement  VII.  was  not  successful.  Against  the  confirmation 
o'f  John  as  archbishop,  there  stood  in  the  way,  that  the  pope 
had  not  yet  examined  the  charges  against  Trolle,  and  cither 
was,  or  pretended  to  be,  ignorant  of  the  sentence  pronounced 
against  him  by  the  legate,  during  the  previous  autumn,  or 
the  sentence  was  not  approved.  But  he  gave  directions, 
May  6,  1524,  to  John  Magnus,  to  whom,  as  its  dean,  the 
chapter  of  Upsala  committed  the  management  of  the  see,  to 
proceed  therewith  until  the  case  of  the  banished  Trolle  was 
finished.  Petrus  Magni  immediately  obtained  the  see  of 


REFORMATION   IN    SWEDEN.  97 

Westcras,  for  which  he  obligated  himself  to  pay  a  sum  of 
money,  for  the  discharge  of  which,  he  was,  after  his  return 
home,  forced  to  provide  the  means  by  great  economy.  But 
against  the  papal  approbation,  as  well  of  John  as  of  the 
other  elected  bishops,  operated  the  before-mentioned  declara 
tion  of  the  king,  prohibiting  them  from  engaging  to  pay 
imposts  into  the  Roman  chancery.  This  was,  for  the  money- 
coveting  Rome,  a  too  alarming  and  sensible  reform,  and  wa* 
highly  disapproved.  The  confirmation  and  consecration  of 
the  proposed  individuals  were,  however,  promised ;  and  the 
pope  was  ready,  it  was  said,  out  of  his  own  money,  to  pay 
the  requisite  fees  to  the  officers  of  the  Roman  courts,  were 
it  not,  that,  just  at  this  time,  in  the  beginning  of  his  pontif 
icate,  the  greatest  need  of  money  pressed  upon  him,  and  the 
Roman  see  was  altogether  bare,  and  indebted  to  a  considera 
ble  amount. 

Against  Magnus  Haraldsson,  elect  of  Skara,  there  stood 
also  an  objection  of  another  kind.  The  above  named  papal 
legate,  John  Francis  de  Potentia,  had,  when,  in  the  years 
1521  and  1522,  he  was  at  Kopenham,  cast  his  eyes  upon 
the  sec  of  Skara,  which  became  vacant  through  his  own 
sentence  upon  Slagok,  had  obtained  the  promise  of  it  from 
pope  Adrian,  and  had  been  elected.  This  was  not  relished  in 
Sweden,  where  there  was  an  aversion  to  foreign  bishops.  In 
1524,  Laurentius  Campegia,  at  that  time  the  papal  legate  in 
Germany,  had  written  to  king  Gustavus,  and  recommended 
the  cause  of  Francis,  but  was  answered,  that  the  king  would 
not  allow  of  foreigners  being  bishops,  as  long  as  suitable 
men  could  be  found  at  home ;  that  the  see  of  Skara  had 
suffered  too  much  from  the  murder  of  Vincentius  to  allow 
of  a  bishop  being  intruded  against  the  will  of  the  parties 
concerned,  and  that  Francis,  by  his  remissness  and  by  his 
justly  suspected  conduct  in  his  commission,  had  lost  all  con 
fidence. 

As  a  consequence  of  king  Gustavus's  system  of  taxation, 


98  IIISTOKY    OF    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

in  the  autumn  of  1523,  and  the  demands  of  the  Roman 
chair,  disapproved  in  Rome  itself,  measures  of  reform  within 
the  Swedish  church  were  already  begun.  To  the  requisition 
of  the  king,  that  such  bishops  should  be  named  as  vindicated 
the  church's  privileges  without  injury  to  the  crown,  Rome 
gave  no  answer.  The  other  two  demands,  that  the  election 
of  bishops  in  the  place  of  Trolle  banished,  and  John  Francis 
(\$  Potentia  not  recognized,  though  nominated  by  the  pope, 
should  be  approved,  and  that  no  money  for  an  act  of  confir 
mation  should  be  paid  to  the  Roman  chancery,  were,  through 
love  of  procrastination,  virtually  refused. 

The  primitive  statutes  of  the  church,  at  least  from  the 
sixth  century,  forbade  those  who  were  consecrated  to  a  holy 
office  to  pay  anything  to  the  consecrator  ;  and  this  was  done 
to  prevent  simony.  But  to  those  who  assisted  at  the  conse 
cration,  he  who  was  consecrated  might  give  a  compensation, 
though  not  exceeding  a  year's  income  of  the  benefice  he  held. 
In  the  western  church,  however,  the  abbots,  bishops,  arch 
bishops  and  others,  began  to  receive  these  annates  out  of 
such  benefices  as  they  bestowed.  When  the  powers  of  the 
church  became  accumulated  in  the  hands  of  the  popes,  they 
gave  away,  for  the  benefit  of  the  church,  the  right  of  receiving 
the  first  year's  income  of  such  offices  as,  falling  vacant,  were 
subject  to  their  obedience.  Instances  could  be  multiplied. 
Boniface  VIII. ,  granted  annates  to  pay  the  debts  of  prelates. 
The  need  which  the  popes  had  of  money  was  especially  felt 
during  the  schism  from  1378  to  1415,  when  many  popes 
divided  the  revenues,  and  it  was  increased  by  multifarious 
losses  and  by  waste.  These  incomes,  therefore,  not  seldom 
increased  by  exactions,  were  forced  either  directly  into  the 
Roman  treasury,  or  went  as  fees  to  the  multitudinous  officials 
of  the  papal  chancery.  If  there  was  a  wish  for  the  dissolu 
tion,  or  the  change  of  the  Swedish  church's  relations  to  the 
see  of  Rome,  nothing  could  be  more  desirable  or  welcome 
than  the  refusal  of  the  pope,  without  a  fee,  to  confirm  the 


REFORMATION   IN    SWEDEN.  99 

elected  bishops  in  their  sees.  On  the  one  hand,  the  resist 
ance  of  the  old  church  against  any  novelty  injurious  to  it 
was  thereby  weakened..  Not  only  were  the  duties  of  the 
office  neglected  and  confused,  but  ordination  and  confirma 
tion — those  sacraments  which  a  bishop  only  could  perform — 
could  be  received  only  from  the  few  consecrated  bishops, 
especially  Brask,  either  at  their  homes,  or  by  journeys 
undertaken  at  the  request  of  another  diocese  ;  or  he  that  was 
not  consecrated  must  have  by  his  side  some  man  consecrated 
by  a  bishop  to  perform  the  office  which  he,  the  unconsecrated, 
could  not.  But  a  greater  source  of  lamentation  was  the 
loss  of  influence  and  respect ;  as  it  appeared  how  insecure 
and  unstable  was  their  position,  when  an  election  by  the 
chapter,  if  not  approved  by  the  pope,  was  to  be  recalled,  and 
of  no  validity ;  neither  did  Brask  forbear  to  complain  of  this 
uncertainty,  and  John  Magnus  joined  in  the  chorus.  The 
king,  too,  declared  his  dissatisfaction  with  this  treatment, 
which  was  greatly  to  be  desired  by  him  if  he  had  already 
resolved  on  a  reformation.  But  it  appears  that  he  and  his 
counsellors  looked  for,  or  pretended  to  look  for  a  reform, 
more  after  the  spirit  of  Adrian  VI.  than  the  L/utheran. 
The  recess  of  Westerns  had  begun  to  rise  in  its  views,  but 
not  the  council  of  Upsala.  By  degrees  it  was  found  out 
that  Rome  set  a  mark  of  heresy  on  every  doctrine  which  was 
not  in  entire  conformity  with  the  old  abuses. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  demand  of  fees,  in  money,  for  con 
firming  the  election  of  bishops,  gave  the  aspect  of  meanness 
to  the  cause  of  Rome,  in  the  eyes  of  the  people.  There 
had  long  been  complaint  of  the  extortions  of  Rome,  and 
dissatisfaction  was  now  more  current  than  ever.  After  the 
refusal  given  by  pope  Clement,  in  1524,  to  the  king's  request 
for  a  remission  of  these  fees,  was  received,  the  subject  became 
one  of  the  points  for  deliberation  at  the  diet  of  Wadsten,  in 
October,  1524.  Among  the  articles  proposed  was  one 
"  concerning  the  coronation  of  our  gracious  lord, 


100  HISTORY    OF    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

and  since  the  bishops  for  that  purpose  are  few,  what 
measures  shall  be  adopted ;  as  the  pope  will  not  engage  in  the 
consecration  of  the  good  lords  elect,  unless  they  purchase  it  of 
him."  The  resolution  which  it  is  likely  was  passed  to  renew 
negotiations  with  Kome  is  not  on  record ;  but  it  is  evident 
the  case  was  under  consideration.  The  question  had,  pre 
viously  to  this  diet,  been  started,  whether  they  should  wait 
for  confirmation  from  Rome,  or  whether -the  legate,  then  in 
Sweden,  had  not,  in  this  respect,  the  ability  to  put  in  use 
the  papal  right.  It  was  also  a  principal  subject  of  concern, 
whether  the  authority  of  the  legate  ceased,  in  its  full  extent, 
with  the  life  of  Adrian.  In  that  case,  must  the  hopes  of 
John  Magnus  himself  for  support  at  Rome,  in  restoring  the 
Swedish  church,  have  fallen  with  this  pope  to  the  ground. 
But,  if  his  authority  had  any  abiding  strength,  he  had  not 
the  right  of  appointing  to  offices,  the  bestowing  of  which  was 
reserved  to  the  pope  alone. 

The  difficulty  with  Rome  occasioned  an  examination  into 
the  ancient  customs  of  the  church,  respecting  the  confirma 
tion  of  the  election  of  bishops.  It  had  belonged  to  the 
metropolitan  of  the  ecclesiastical  province.*  But  when  the 
papal  supremacy  swallowed  up  all  other  power  within  the 
church,  the  confirmation  of  the  election  of  bishops  was  also 
reserved  to  the  pope.  We  dive  not,  in  Sweden,  into  inves 
tigations  and  scrutiny  of  this  matter,  only  so  for  as  bishop 
Brask  was  a  participator  in  it ;  in  whose  acquaintance  with 
canonical  law  may  be  reposed  the  highest  confidence.  He 
affirmed,  with  respect  to  the  confirmation  of  bishops,  that 
he  and  his  two  predecessors,  from  1459,  Kettil  Wase  and 
Henry  Ticleman,  received  confirmation  in  Rome,  but  that 
all  the  rest,  here  at  home,  received  it  from  the  metropolitan. 
Even  he,  otherwise  so  Romishly  inclined,  finds  it  probable, 

1  In  1299,  the  diaplcr  of  Westerns- requested,  that  the  archbishop  of 
Upsala  would,  by  his  mctropolitical  authority,  confirm  its  elected  bishop,  Nils 
K<Milsson. 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  101 

"the  case  was  so  from  the  beginning."  But  a  return  was 
now  not  possible;  since  the  metropolitan  see  itself  was 
vacant,  at  least  was  so  considered  in  Sweden. 

Brask  was  afraid  that  they  would  break  the  church's  unity, 
if  they  did  not  take  the  advice  of  their  mother.  He  desired 
that  the  apostolic  see  might  at  least  fill  up  their  numbers, 
and  urges  dispatch  in  the  act  of  confirmation. 

It  appeai-s  as  if  the  elected  bishops  were  in  doubt,  whether 
to  procure  confirmation  from  Rome,  on  such  conditions  as 
they  could,  or  rely  on  the  firm  will  of  the  king  to  save  them 
from  the  consequences.  Nothing,  however,  can  positively 
be  affirmed.  Possibly  they  were  undecided,  or  of  different 
opinions  among  themselves.  This  hesitation  and  difference 
of  opinion  peep  forth  from  a  letter  of  Brask' s,  dated  March 
10,  1525,  to  master  Erik,  bishop  elect  of  Abo.  "  It  would  be 
agreeable,"  he  says,  "  to  obtain  some  information,  however 
stale,  of  your  negotiation  on  the  subject  of  confirmation,  in 
which  you  might  not  appear  separated  from  the  unity  of  the 
catholic  church  and  the  Christian  faith.  But  if  my  brother, 
like  some  others,  goes  with  the  times,  I  fear  that  the  Swedish^ 
church  is  lost — -which  may  God  avert  in  our  days.  The 
church  has  few  protectors,  but  many  aggressors.  But,  if 
these  few,  who  ought  to  resist  such  aggressors,  have  not 
confirmation,  or  some  sure  footing,  they  cannot,  wanting 
security  themselves  in  their  position,  give  security  to  the 
church.  The  idea  of  separation,  and  some  Lutherans,  are  the 
root  of  the  deception.  I  counsel,  rather  to  obey  God  than 
men,  and  in  time,  to  procure  authority  for  office,  that 
another  may  not  win  for  himself  your  blessing.  For  we 
must  not  doubt  if  the  ship  of  Peter  shall  endure,  however 
shaken  by  the  storms  of  heresy." 

Counsel  was  sought,  even  from  abroad,  in  these  moment 
ous  difficulties ;  at  least  such  is  found  given  by  the  dean  of 
the  chapter  of  Lubeck,  John  Brand,  and  by  a  canon  of  the 
same,  John  Roden.  They  advise  the  elected  bishops  to  mako 


102  HISTORY    OF   THE   ECCLESIASTICAL 

representation  at  Rome  of  their  fears,  on  account  of  the 
king's  stern  prohibition  of  the  payment  of  annates,  of  their 
own  obedience  to  the  Roman  see,  of  the  spread  of  the 
Lutheran  heresy  over  the  land,  of  their  proximity  to  the 
Russian  schismatics,  all  of  which  would  rouse  the  pope  not 
to  refuse  confirmation. 

In  the  year  1526,  it  appears  to  have  been  seriously 
proposed  that  the  bishops  should  be  consecrated,  and  enter 
upon  the  full  exercise  of  their  office,  without  confirmation 
by  ecclesiastical  authority.  Bishop  Brask,  who,  all  the 
time,  so  earnestly  pressed  the  confirmation  and  consecration 
of  his  colleagues,  now  advised  delay.  They  could  not  now, 
he  thought,  be  consecrated  without  danger  of  a  schism  ; 
when  this  danger  ceased,  the  assent  must  be  redeemed,  and 
money  be  paid  for  it.  Advices  from  Rome  had  given  him 
hope  of  a  yielding  on  the  part  of  the  pope  ;  and  the  letter  he 
received,  assured  him  that  he  would  be  shown  any  degree 
of  favor  whatever,  who  would  make  resistance  to  the 
Lutheran  heresy.  The  pope  was  apprized .  of  the  condition 
of  the  Swedish  church,  as  was  well  known  ;  and  that  it  was 
not  the  fault  of  the  bishops  that  confirmation  from  him  was 
not  sought.  The  mark  might  possibly  be  gained  without 
danger  to  the  body  and  the  soul,  and  the  whole  church.  * 
Especially  was  it  advisable,  that  Magnus  Haraldsson, 
elect  of  Skara,  should  avoid  being  consecrated,  before  the 
dispute  respecting  the  episcopal  staff,  between  him  and  John 
F.  do  Potentia,  became-  settled ;  since  it  would  be  of  evil 
consequence,  and  in  opposition  to  apostolic  order,  to  be 
consecrated  for  a  church  for  which  another  was  already 
consecrated.  Brask  apprehended  that  if  confirmation  were 
not  obtained,  Sweden  would  have  bishops  separated  from 
unity  with  the  Roman  church.  But,  "  if  we  in  this  time 
of  the  persecution  of  the  Christian  faith,  become  severed 
from  the  Roman  church  and  ecclesiastical  unity,  I  see  not 
how  far  we  shall  fall  and  hang  our  heads." 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  103 

In  this  cause,  the  pardon-monger,  John  Arcimbold,  onco 
more  makes  his  appearance,  in  the  history  of  the  Swedish 
church.  To  him,  who  was  then  bishop  of  Novara,  had 
Magnus  Haraldsson  applied  for  aid  in  persuading  the  apos 
tolic  chair  to  confirm  his  election.  Arcimbold  answers  on 
September  30,  152G,  that  the  appointment  was  made  out  for 
Magnus  to  carry  on  the  diocese  of  Skara  ;  but  that  the  final 
adjustment  of  the  case  of  John  F.  de  Potentia,  who  had 
returned  from  an  embassage  to  Russia,  was  waited  for,  the 
pope  intending  to  provide  him  with  another  benefice  when 
he  took  from  him  that  of  Skara.  At  all  events  Magnus 
might  be  sure  of  the  diocese  of  Skara.  He  should,  there 
fore,  as  soon  as  possible,  send  the  money  to  pay  the  fees  of 
his  commission. 

Thus,  at  the  end  of  the  year  1526,  the  case  stood  at  the 
same  point.  But  at  this  time  men  had  begun  to  weary  of 
the  trafficking  at  Rome  in  the  offices  of  bishops. 


104  HISTORY    OF   THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 


CHAPTER   VI. 

OF  THE  ASSESSMENT  OP  THE  CHURCH,  TILL  THE  YEAR  152T. 

AT  the  time  the  negotiations  were  carried  on,  respecting 
the  remission  of  the  fees  to  Rome,  for  the  nomination  of 
elected  bishops,  it  was  said  that  the  Swedish  church  was 
impoverished  by  the  losses  and  expenses  it  incurred  during 
the  war  of  deliverance  against  king  Christian  the  cruel. 
This  war  was  said  to  have  been  carried  on  for  deliverance 
of  the  church  from  unworthy  oppression,  and,  therefore,  the 
church  could  not  avoid  a  participation  in  the  heavy  costs  of 
that  war. 

It  was  an  especial  maxim  of  the  papal  church,  that  the 
wealth  and  revenues  of  the  church,  in  personal  property  and 
dues,  were  entirely  separated  from  the  civil  purposes  of  the 
community  and  its  system  of  taxation.  They  were  destined 
to  purposes  irrespective  of  the  calls  and  necessities  of  the 
state ;  and  the  foe  of  the  existing  constitution  of  the  state, 
was  a  foe  also  of  the  church,  only  so  far  as  he  hindered 
the  latter  in  the  operations  for  what  was  evidently  divine 
truth,  and  for  peace  w"ith  God  and  mutual  peace  among 
men.  But  this  maxim  was  as  indefinite  and  vacillating  as 
the  claims  of  the  papacy  itself;  and  not  only  in  the  church 
of  each  country  was  the  love  of  fatherland  too  powerful  to 
permit  this  maxim  to  strongly  operate,  but  the  church 
would  often  furnish  pay  for  the  soldiers  who  fought  for  that 
country.  Its  defenders  also  had  a  difficulty  in  distinguishing 
the  true  interests  of  the  church,  and  the  real  welfare  of 


REFORMATION   IN    SWEDEN.  105 

fatherland,  from  the  oblique  views  and  agencies  which  were 
inspired  by  a  carnal  spirit  and  civil  partisanship.  Party 
disputes  between  feUow-citizens  were  often  called  disputes 
of  the  church  ;  and  the  church  was  obliged  to  suffer  in  its 
property  and  to  pay  for  illusory  benefits.  The  church  could 
not,  during  times  of  confusion  and  violence,  preserve,  in  tho 
face  of  its  outward  wealth,  its  sanctity  untouched.  Human 
strife  knows  no  distinction  between  cause  and  persons  ;  has 
no  leisure  to  compare  the  innocence  of  office  with  the 
defects  of  those  who  hold  it ;  and  necessity,  when  outward 
violence  is  current,  knows  no  difference  between  the  property 
of  friends  and  foes. 

More  than  once,  in  Sweden,  had  the  church  experienced 
the  fury  of  the  foes  of  its  privileges.  The  capture  and 
destruction  of  Stacket  were  in  point.  The  elder  Sten  Sture 
had,  in  his  contests  with  archbishop  Jacob  Ulfsson,  taken 
and  pillaged  the  episcopal  pleasance  at  Upsala ;  and  the 
adherents  of  Sture  were  obliged  to  take  considerable  supplies 
from  the  church.  During  the  war  against  Christian  II., 
the  church  was  levied  on  by  both  friends  and  foes.  Chris 
tian  himself  showed  no  meekness  in  regard  to  the  church's 
possessions.  In  his  plans  of  reform,  he  had  in  view,  to  draw 
to  the  crown  the  investitures  of  the  church.  Bishop  John 
Bellenake,  placed  by  him  in  Striingness,  was  compelled  to 
give  up  the  castle  of  Tynnelso,  which  was  re-conquered  by 
Gustavus  "Wasa,  who  kept  it  with  consent  of  the  adminis 
trator  of  the  kingdom,  till  1523,  when  it  was  voluntarily 
restored,  as  a  pledge  of  compensation  for  all  the  losses  the 
bishop  might  have  suffered. 

Unnumbered  casual  pillages  by  foes,  had  the  church 
undergone  in  the  year  1522  ;  a  willing  tribute,  however,  to 
carry  on  the  war  of  freedom.  This  tribute  had,  at  least  in 
most  of  the  dioceses,  proceeded  from  the  property  of  the 
cathedrals,  and  monasteries,  and  from  taxes  on  the  clerical 
holders  of  benefices.  In  the  year  1523,  when  payment  was 


106  HISTORY   OF   THE   ECCLESIASTICAL 

made  for  the  admitted  assistance  of  Lubeck  in  the  war,  the 
king  was  obliged,  with  consent  of  the  estates  of  the  king 
dom,  to  procure  a  loan  of  the  churches  and  monasteries. 
Whatever  could  best  be  spared  from  their  jewels,  moveablcs, 
and  cash,  was  to  be  brought  to  the  king,  for  which  a  receipt 
in  proof  of  the  loan  was  given,  with  a  promise  of  future 
payment.  This  loan  was  taken  while  the  ambassador  of 
Lubeck  was  still  in  Sweden  waiting  for  payment.  What 
was  thus  collected  in  indefinite  sums,  might  be  an  offset 
against  certain  taxes.  The  king  had  also  heard  that  bishop 
Brask  had  money  upon  deposit  in  Lubeck,  and  of  this  he 
requested  an  advance.  The  bishop  denied  that  the  money 
was  his.  A  contribution  was  also  required  from  the  domes 
tic  supplies  of  the  bishop.  The  requisition,  as  usual, 
awakened  Brask's  displeasure.  Even  the  mode  of  collecting 
the  taxes,  sometimes  produced  dissatisfaction.  Thus,  the 
king  had  required  from  the  bishop  of  Skara,  for  nearly  half 
the  churches  of  his  see,  four  hundred  marks  of  silver,  but 
laid  on  the  other  half  an  impost  whose  amount  was  unknown 
to  the  bishop,  collected  by  two  laymen,  as  the  churches 
were  attached  to  their  investitures.  A  contribution  had  pre 
viously  been  made  by  the  clergy  and  churches  of  the  dio 
cese,  and  now  there  was  the  requisition  from  them  of  two 
hundred  oxen.  A  like  assessment  was  made  on  nearly  all 
the  clergy  and  churches  of  the  kingdom,  and  a  like  dissatis 
faction  was  commonly  expressed.  Bishops  Brask  and 
Ilaraldsson  poured  out  bitter  complaints.  The  discontent 
of  Per  Sunnavader  proceeded  to  action,  and  the  church's 
grievances  were  at  least  the  pretence  for  those  rebellious 
plots,  which  occasioned  his  own  and  master  Knut's  deposi 
tion  and  flight  to  Norway. 

At  the  commencement  of  the  year  1524,  when  king  Gus- 
tavus  was  desirous  of  raising  men  and  arms  for  an  expedi 
tion  against  Gothland,  which,  however,  miscarried,  he 
made  application  to  the  bishops  to  obtain  money.  The 


REFORMATION   IN    SWEDEN.  107 

bishops  elect  of  Upsala,  Striingness,  and  Abo,  pledged  them 
selves,  "  because  the  pacification  of  the  kingdom  and  church 
depended  on  the  successful  issue  of  this  expedition,"  to  con 
tribute  according  to  their  own  and  the  ability  of  their 
churches,  and  to  supply  whatever  might  still  be  found  in 
the  private  repositories  of  the  churches.  Even  Brask  and 
Magnus  Haraldsson,  not  indeed  without  murmurs,  though 
they  had  before  warmly  advised  the  expedition,  gave  their 
contributions,  and  the  monasteries  bore  their  share. 

The  complaint  that  the  monasteries  were  stripped,  was 
not  just.  Their  contributions  were  for  the  most  part,  free 
will  offerings.  They  were  shown,  after  1527,  to  have  still" 
the  greatest  part  of  their  property  left  them ;  and  twenty 
years  later,  Peutinger  and  Norman  estimated  that  there 
remained  in  the  coffers  of  the  churches,  far  larger  rents  than 
they  now  voluntarily  offered  for  the  benefit  of  fatherland. 

The  king  often  declared  his  dissatisfaction,  in  the  slowness 
and  meanness,  with  which  they  made  their  contributions,  at 
least  from  the  diocese  of  Linkoping,  whose  reluctance  he, 
not  without  reason,  attributed  to  the  unwillingness  and 
tardy  movements  of  bishop  Bra&k. 

For  the  two  years  succeeding  1524,  the  churches  appear 
to  have  been  exempted  from  contributions  in  silver  and 
cash.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  a  new  assessment  took  place 
in  the  year  1525,  by  which  all  the  chnrch  tithes,  in  the 
whole  kingdom  were  appropriated  to  the  maintenance  of 
the  war  of  the  people,  with  the  exception  of  what  was 
required  for  the  purchase  of  wax,  wine,  and  the  consecrated 
wafer.  On  Sunday,  January  1,  1525,  a  contribution  was 
made  of  the  tithes  that  came  in  the  foregoing  autumn.  On 
a  Sunday  in  January  the  following  year,  there  was  offered 
two  parts  of  all  the  tithes  "  of  that  winter,"  to  pay  the 
debt  to  Lubeck.  On  both  occasions  this  tribute  was  said 
to  be  made  in  order  to  spare  the  country  people.  In 
August  of  1526,  two  parts  of  all  the  tithes  were  granted, 


108  %  HISTOHY    OF    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

and  a  contribution  from  all  the  clergy  of  the  diocese,  to  the 
amount  of  15,000  marks.  This  contribution  was  given  in 
place  of  a  proposed  tax  of  25,000  marks,  which  would 
have  taken  up  two  thirds  of  the  incomes  of- the  clergy.  The 
prelates  at  the  diet  then  in  session,  said,  that  half  the 
incomes  of  the  clergy  scarcely  amounted  to  that  sum ;  but 
that  it  was  preferable,  on  many  accounts,  to  give  a  round 
sum,  than  to  have  nice  questions  started  on  the  conditions 
of  a  loan.  The  bishops  were  also,  like  the  knights  and 
nobles,  to  give  an  escuage  for  all  the  revenues  which  were 
derived  from  the  investitures  of  the  crown,  or  the  lands 
called  fralse,  that  is  to  say,  exempt  by  law  from  taxes.  The 
tithes  were  collected  by  men  appointed  by  the  chapter,  in 
connection  with  officials  appointed  by  the  crown. 

The  pastors  of  churches  were  the  most  spared.  No 
tribute  was  laid  on  their  valuation.  But  they  suffered  much 
from  the  entertainment  given  to  wayfarers,  common  in  that 
age,  and  which  was  peculiarly  felt  as  a  burden,  when  the 
land  was  being  trampled  under  the  foot  of  war.  The  king 
once  sent  thirty  sailors  to  the  diocese  of  Linkoping,  to  be 
maintained  by  the  bishop  and  his  clergy.  The  burdens  laid 
upon  the  bishops,  fell  mediately  on  the  parish  priests,  who 
were  not  unfrcquently  obliged  to  assist  the  bishop  in  sus 
taining  them. 

From  the  incomes  of  the  canons,  it  is  said,  the  king,  at 
this  time,  derived  nothing  for  the  crown,  except  that  they 
also  were  obliged  to  take  their  part  in  the  general  assess 
ment  of  the  church  and  clergy.  Another  case  arose,  when 
the  brethren  of  the  hospital  at  Soderkoping  started  the 
question,  whether  the  tithes  should  not  be  restored  to  them, 
which  had  gone  to  the  chapter  of  Linkoping.  These  tithes 
had  been  granted  the  hospital,  during  the  building  of  the 
church;  but  in  the  time  of  the  younger  Sture,  had  been 
adjudged  to  the  chapter.  The  king  wished  a  new  investiga 
tion  to  be  instituted ;  and  meanwhile  sequestered  the  tithes. 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  .109 

Besides  the  escuage,  undertaken  in  1526,  the  bishops 
were  compelled  to  make  another  levy.  As  yet  the  king  had 
not  taken  general  cognizance  of  the  incomes  of  the  bishops. 
But  with  the  five  dioceses,  which  had  yet  no  independent 
occupants,  he  was  able  to  deal  with  some  freedom.  Imposts, 
in  such  a  case,  were  not  to  be  laid,  with  a  consideration  of 
how  much  the  king  was  to  divide  with  the  elected  bishops. 
Before  his  election  as  king,  he  restored  Tynnelso,  for  the 
domestic  support  of  the  bishop  of  Striingness ;  but,  on  the 
contrary,  he  retained  from  Westeras,  Gronso,  which  was 
retaken  by  the  enemy.  Tynnelso  was  restored,  in  1523,  as 
we  have  said,  before  the  king's  election.  When  Petrus 
Magni  came  home,  in  1524,  the  king  had  come  to  another 
way  of  thinking ;  in  which  we  fancy  may  be  detected  the 
influence  of  Laurentius  Andreas.  Gronso,  it  is  said,  had 
come  from  the  crown  to  the  cathedral  of  Westeras,  and  they 
had  held  it  sufficiently  long  to  be  fully  compensated  for  all 
accruing  expenses.  The  king  was  blamed,  because  Petrus 
Magni  was  put  upon  a  retrenched  establishment.  The  king 
declared,  that  he  did  not  so  much  curtail  his  income,  but 
that  he  observed  the  bishop  husbanded  his  means  to  pay  his 
debt  to  Rome,  "  when  he  bought  his  see  of  the  pope."  They 
who  were  dissatisfied  with  the  bishop's  parsimony,  seemed 
to  themselves  to  apprehend  what  a  real  bishop  is.  "  The 
scripture,"  writes  the  king,  "  says  that  they  are  the  people's 
servants  for  the  gospel's  sake.  lie  comes  better  provided  to 
take  care  of  them  who  has  few  courtiers  than  he  who  has 
many." 

The  officers  of  the  king  often  did  violence  to  the  property 
of  the  church,  sometimes  of  necessity,  sometimes,  perhaps, 
from  ill  will.  But  that  this  was  done  with  consent  of  their 
lord  is  not  mentioned.  The  monasteries  had  to  pay  their 
portion  of  the  often-mentioned  loan  of  money  in  cash.  The 
monastery  of  Wadstcn,  in  the  beginning  of  1524,  gave  up  a 
portion  of  the  silver  which  was  offered  by  the  people  at  the 


110*  HISTORY    OP   THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

shrine  of  St.  Catharine.  But  some  weeks  after,  the  king 
sent  his  chaplain  to  Wadsten,  with  the  request,  that  the 
remainder  of  this  money  should  be  sent  him.  If  the  abbess 
wished  a  fief  of  the  crown,  in  pledge  of  repayment,  it  would 
be  granted  her. 

In  the  year  1524,  the  question  was  introduced,  at  the  diet 
of  "Wadsten,  whether  it  was  not  advisable,  that  the  horses 
of  the  war  of  the  people  should  be  quartered  on  the  monas 
teries,  which  had  few  persons  to  maintain.  The  resolution, 
it  appears,  was  not  then  entertained ;  but  at  Stockholm,  in 
the  year  1525,  it  was  determined  that  the  king  should,  that 
summer,  have  his  horses  in  the  lodges  of  all  monasteries. 
The  case  was  an  unusual  one  in  Sweden.  It  had  come  from 
abroad,  through  monasteries,  to  which  princes  had  resorted 
with  numerous  retinues,  to  pass  away  the  days  of  fasting  or 
other  holy  seasons.  In  Denmark,  at  least,  king  John  began 
to  lay  this  burden  on  the  monasteries,  and  king  Christian 
II.,  had  wished  to  import  the  same  practice  into  Sweden. 
it  became  the  first  sore  in  the  reign  of  Gustavus  I.,  as  it 
had  been  unhappily  projected  by  Christian.  Against  this 
use  of  monastic  lodges,  Brask  made  his  remonstrances,  which 
were  forcibly  answered  by  the  king.  It  is  true,  that  through 
these  lodgments,  the  service  of  God  was  interrupted,  if  there 
were  no  such  service  but  to  feed  a  multitude  of  hypocrites 
and  liars ;  but  the  service  of  God  consists  rather  in  sym 
pathizing  in  the  interests  and  the  deprivations  suffered  by 
the  kingdom  and  its  inhabitants.  If  the  crown  had  not 
given  wealth  to  found  churches  and  monasteries,  the  spirit 
ual  nobles  would  have  had  no  ability  for  the  service  and 
tribute  they  were  called  to  pay. 

The  demand  of  these  tributes,  and  the  accuracy  with 
which  the  interests .  and  rights  of  the  crown  were  protected 
and  observed,  are  attributed  to  Laurentius  Andreas.  He 
was  the  king's  counsellor,  of  whom  complaint  was  often 
heard,  from  those  who  were  offended  at  the  measures  adopted. 


REFORMATION   IN    SWEDEN.  Ill 

He  had,  at  once,  from  the  first,  won  the  king's  confidence. 
As  early  as  March,  1524,  when  bishop  Brask,  in  a  letter  to 
John  Magnus,  mentions  the  king's  dissatisfaction  with  the 
bishop's  declaration  respecting  the  tithes  of  the  hospital 
at  Soderkoping,  he  adds,  that  he  trusted  he  did  not  deserve 
blame,  except  so  far  as  seemed  good  to  master  Lars,  the  man, 
who,  with  the  good  God's  permission,  governed  everything. 
We  shall  soon  come  to  speak  of  the  maxims  of  master  Lars, 
in  regard  to  the  wealth  of  the  church,  and  offer  new  proof 
of  the  dissatisfaction  awakened  against  him,  among  the 
friends  of  the  old  order  of  things. 

The  tributes  and  taxes,  which  were  now  demanded  from  the 
persons  and  property  of  the  church,  were  not  new  and  unheard 
of,  with  the  exception,  perhaps,  of  the  use  of  the  monastic 
lodges.  They  are  not,  therefore,  to  be  wholly  regarded  as 
the  fruits  of  the  new  views,  although  these  furnished  new 
reasons  and  apologies  for  them.  In  making  a  comparison 
with  former  times,  it  will  be  sufficient  to  cite  only  a  single 
case — that  which  occurred  in  the  reign  of  king  Albrekt.  As 
reported  in  the  chronicle  of  Olaus  Petri,  all  the  tenants  of 
the  church  were  obliged  twice  to  pay  money  to  buy  horses. 
The  king  took  half  of  the  church  tithes,  in  four  successive 
years ;  for  one  year,  half  of  all  the  rents  of  the  priests, 
bishops  and  churches.  He  borrowed  of  all  parish  priests 
and  their  churches,  moneys  which  never  were  returned,  and 
ultimately  demanded  that  every  third  house  of  all  the 
tenants  of  the  church  should  be  given  to  the  crown,  to  help 
its  enfeebled  income. 


112  HISTORY    OF   THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 


CHAPTER    VII. 

OP  THE  CONTINUED  PREACHING  OF  THE  GOSPEL,  WITH  THE  AC 
COMPANYING  INCIDENTS  AND  CONSEQUENCES,  TO  THE  DIET  OP 
WESTERAS  IN  1527. 

WE  return  to  the  narrative  of  the  progress  and  spread  of 
gospel  truth  in  our  fatherland,  of  its  combats,  and  its  success. 
No  ordinance  was  passed  for  or  against  the  new  views  during 
this  year ;  and  the  influence  exerted  by  writers  on  either 
wide,  is,  for  the  first  time,  manifested  in  the  year  1527.  We 
have  thus  far  occupied  our  attention  with  the  times  imme 
diately  preceding  the  diet  of  Westeras,  in  order  to  give  a 
picture  of  the  movements  within  the  Swedish  church,  before 
the  first  firm  step  was  taken  for  a  thorough  reform. 

It  has  already  been  mentioned  in  what  manner  the  atten 
tion  of  king  Gustavus,  when  he  was  called  at  Striingness  to 
the  throne  of  Sweden,  was  attracted  to  the  new  teaching, 
and  that  he  soon  after  made  the  man  his  chancellor,  who 
became  the  foremost  support  of  its  propagation. 

Olaus  Petri  either  accompanied  his  patron  to  Stockholm, 
or  went  there  at  a  later  period,  at  the  latest,  in  the  spring 
of  1524.  He  was  free  from  his  duties  at  Striingness,  and 
was  appointed,  during  the  occurring  changes  of  the  magis 
tracy  at  Stockholm,  to  be  secretary  of  its  council.  At  the 
same  time  master  Michael  Langerbeen  was  appointed  by  the 
king  to  be  pastor  of  the  church  in  Stockholm.  He  also 
had  studied  at  Wittenberg,  had  lately  come  home,  and  was 
inclined  to  the  principles  of  the  Reformation.  Olof,  who 
was  not  in  the  priesthood,  was  appointed  as  deacon  to  preach 
in  the  city  church. 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  113 

This  was  the  commencement  of  the  preaching  of  the  pure 
word  of  God  in  Stockholm,  and  it  opened  a  more  extensive 
field  for  those  who  most  actively  labored  for  the  church's 
reform. 

The  church  of  St.  Nicholas,  at  Stockholm,  or  as  it  was 
then  commonly  called,  the  city  church  (stads  kyrka),  because 
it  was  the  only  parish  church,  proper,  to  which  the  rest,  as 
chapels  or  monastic  churches,  were  subordinate,  was  now 
occupied  by  two  of  Luther's  disciples,  Langerbeen  and  Olof. 
Of  the  former  we  have  nothing  special  to  relate.  Probably 
his  opinions  and  his  line  of  action  were  less  determined,  and 
he  was  overshadowed  by  the  more  energetic,  bolder,  and 
more  eloquent  Olof.  He  often  preached  in  the  city  church, 
and  was  called  by  a  name,  derived  from  the  form  of  the 
pulpit  he  used,  master  Olof  of  the  basket. 

Who  procured  his  commission  to  preach  in  this  church  is 
not  clear.  It  is  probable  that  the  burghers  of  Stockholm 
themselves  wished  to  hear  him,  from  his  known  activity  and 
the  fame  of  his  preaching,  and  that  the  request  was  still 
further  superinduced  by  the  conviction  entertained  of  his 
freedom  of  speech  in  regard  to  the  old  teaching  of  the  church. 
This  presumption  becomes  fortified,  when  we  consider  that 
the  proceedings  in  Germany  could  not  be  unfamiliar  to  this 
community,  and  that  Stockholm  was  not  under  th<j  imme 
diate  influence  of  the  bishop's  residence,  and  of  tire  chapter 
seated  there. 

That  the  new  preacher  and  his  pulpit  roused  attention, 
cannot  be  attributed  to  the  novelty  of  preaching.  It  had 
never  ceased  during  the  middle  ages,  if  here  and  there  it  was 
rarely  practised.  It  was  a  duty  of  the  bishops,  which  they 
might  execute  through  others.  Nor  were  the  canons  and 
parish  priests  exempted  from  that  duty,  and  pulpits  were 
common.  That  deacons,  to  which  grade  Olof  still  belonged, 
should  preach,  was  allowed,  at  least  not  forbidden,  and  the 
common  pulpit  of  the  church  was  filled  by  them.  This 


114  HISTORY    OF   THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

pulpit  (the  ambo),  usually  stood  in  the  choir  of  the  church. 
Perhaps  that  he  might  be  better  heard,  a  pulpit  more  like 
what  we  now  commonly  have  in  our  churches,  was  erected 
for  Olof ;  and  as  one  like  it  had  not  been  there  before,  beside 
the  dissatisfaction  given  the  papists,  it  gave  occasion  to  some 
sneers. 

All  were  not  content  with  the  new  doctrines.  Olof  was 
sometimes  interrupted  in  his  preaching,  by  having  stones 
cast  at  him,  with  other  insults.  But  the  attachment  of 
many,  and  the  protection  he  had  of  the  king,  so  that  no 
ecclesiastical  authority  had  yet  condemned  him,  made  it 
practicable  for  him  to  continue  his  course,  till,  by  degrees, 
all  violent  opposition  ceased  of  itself. 

The  tenor  of  the  doctrine  he  now  promulgated,  is,  in  its 
details,  not  known.  No  writings,  at  this  time,  of  his  are  to 
be  found,  from  which  we  can  have  assurance  of  the  platform 
on  which  he  now  stood.  The  main  points  of  his  opinions 
we  shall  hereafter  examine.  But,  that  his  opinions  were 
not  mature,  that  he  was  not  fully  established  in  his  knowl 
edge  of  the  truth,  appears  from  the  circumstance,  that  not 
long  after  his  removal  to  Stockholm,  he  fell  into  the  same 
errors,  through  which,  two  years  earlier,  many  of  his  former 
teachers  at  Wittenberg  became  infatuated. 

It  seems  to  appertain  to  men  in  general,  that,  every  at 
tempt  at  reform,  which  is  to  be  attended  by  a  loosening  of 
the  bond  which  united  the  civil  or  ecclesiastical  community, 
results,  in  the  first  place,  in  anarchy  or  disorder  in  the 
struggle  for  freedom.  The  desire  of  independence  in  man's 
nature,  engenders  the  attempt  to  shake  off  all  outward 
bonds,  until  the  inevitable  law  of  order  and  concord,  as  a 
restrainer  and  avenger,  curbs  the  haughty  spirit. 

Such  an  attempt  was  presented,  at  the  commencement 
of  Lutheran  protestantism,  on  the  appearance  of  the  ana 
baptists  upon  the  scene.  Within  the  church,  the  tie  of 
human  laws  and  ordinances  was  to  be  torn  asunder.  God's 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  115 

word  alone  was  to  be  the  light  and  leader  of  the  way.  Man 
had  this  word  in  the  Holy  Scriptures  ;  of  this  man  was  sure. 
But  the  thread  of  monkish  indulgences  could  no  longer  be 
followed.  The  Holy  Scriptures  alone  were  the  watchword 
of  freedom.  But  why  should  the  Spirit  of  God  speak  in  the 
Holy  Scriptures,  and  speak  immediately  now  no  more l?  Are 
not  the  Scriptures,  in  truth,  the  curb  which  checks  the  divine 
free  work  of  the  Spirit  in  and  over  the  hearts  of  men  I  Is  it 
not  the  immediate  work  of  the  Spirit,  that  we  are  able  to 
see  the  existing  weakness  and  defects  of  society  ?  Does  it 
not  belong  to  this  insight  into  the  fullness  and  maturity  of 
humanity,  now  to  go  forward  without  leading  strings  ?  Be 
fore  these  questions  of  the  tempter  Satan,  the  anabaptists  fell, 
as  many  did  before  and  after  them.  To  them,  they  thought, 
the  spirit  of  God  revealed  himself.  This  alone  should  govern 
men.  Outward  order  was  but  shackles  to  men.  Baptism  in 
infancy,  was  an  involuntary,  and  therefore  a  void  obligation. 
It  was  a  fruitless  and  empty  offering. 

Upon  their  appearance  at  Wittenberg,  Caiistadt  became 
their  zealous  adherent.  Melancthon  was  vacillating  and 
doubtful.  The  breaking  of  images,  and  other  acts  of  disor 
der,  attended  their  progress.  Luther,  himself,  was,  for  a 
moment,  at  a  loss;  but  soon,  from  their  fruits,  satisfied 
of  their  false  professions,  he  determined  to  check  their 
proceedings. 

In  the  year  1520,  when  king  Gustavus  passed  the  sum 
mer  and  part  of  the  autumn  in  Southern  Sweden,  at  a 
conference  with  the  king  of  Denmark,  in  Malmo,  attended 
by  Laurentius  Andrea?,  there  came  to  Stockholm,  in  a 
vessel  from  Holland,  some  of  the  anabaptists.  Among 
them  the  chief  were  Melchior  Rink  and  B.  Knipperdolling, 
the  former  a  leather-dresser,  the  latter  a  shopkeeper.  These 
men  began  to  promulgate  their  doctrines  of  spiritual  freedom, 
of  the  immediate  revelations  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  of  the 
abhorrence  of  popery,  of  the  heavenly  kingdom,  which  was 


HG  HISTORY    OF    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

to  go  forth  iii  light  and  salvation,  as  soon  as  the  papal 
power,  with  all  its  idolatry  and  outward  pomp,  should  be 
overthrown.  Rink  undertook,  without  being  requested  to 
do  so,  to  preach  in  the  church  of  St.  John,  on  the  book  of 
the  Revelations.  His  and  Knippcrdolling's  proceedings, 
called  forth  more  preachers,  chiefly  mechanics.  They 
preached  in  churches  and  chapels,  in  the  suburbs  of  towns, 
in  the  churches  of  the  monasteries,  and  in  the  island  of  the 
grey  friars ;  or,  where  they  were  not  permitted  to  use  the 
churches,  they  preached  in  the  open  air.  The  swarm  was 
soon  in  full  career.  Not  only  among  those  who  compre 
hended  the  views  of  the  German  preachers;  but  among 
others  the  evil  was  at  work.  The  churches  and  monas 
teries  were  attacked.  The  images  of  the  saints  were  muti 
lated  around  the  market-places  and  in  all  the  streets. 
Altars  and  organs  became  a  wreck.  The  work  of  destruc 
tion  was  universal,  except  where  it  was  practicable  to  put 
some  limits  to  its  progress. 

Master  Langerbeen  and  master  Olof  did  not,  indeed, 
participate  in  this  outburst,  but  "  thought  that  good  might 
come  of  it,"  "  togo  det  for  godt."  They  were  so  taken  by 
surprise  that  they  did  not,  till  it  was  too  late,  take  measures 
to  protect  their  flock  and  recall  it  to  its  senses.  There  was 
here,  as  in  Wittenberg,  an  exemplification,  though  happily 
incomplete,  of  the  disorders,  confusions,  and  tumults,  which 
distinguished  the  appearance  in  1533,  of  the  anabaptists,  at 
Munster  in  Germany.  They  wished  to  appear  carrying  on 
the  work  of  the  Spirit,  while  practising  the  works  of 
violence.  The  papists  and  priests,  it  was  said,  had  put  a 
lie  in  the  place  of  truth.  Now  light  had  come,  though 
apparently  in  deeds  of  darkness.  The  few  adherents  of  these 
new  views,  who  retained  their  senses,  doubted  if  this  disorder 
was  indeed  the  undoubted  mark  of  evangelical  freedom. 
The  papists  continued  to  condemn  all  novelty,  and  attributed 
to  the  preachers,  who  were  said  to  enjoy  the  king's  protec- 


REFORMATION   IN    SWEDEN.  117 

tion,  the  blame  of  all  the  disturbance.  The  king  himself 
was  accused  of  favoring  the  tumults.  The  peasantry  about v 
Stockholm,  witnessed  with  abhorrence,  the  indignities  done 
to  whatever  they  had  been  accustomed  to  regard  as  sacred ; 
and  their  dissatisfaction  was  near  breaking  out  into  an  in 
surrection. 

King  Gustavus  hastened  to  return  to  Stockholm,  in  order 
to  appease  the  tumults.  Vehement  reproaches  were  brought 
against  Langerbeen  and  Olof,  as  not  having  put  obstacles  in 
the  way  of  the  outbreak.  The  leaders  of  the  anabaptists 
were  imprisoned,  and  had  well  nigh  paid  the  forfeit  of  their 
lives ;  but  the  king  allowed  himself  to  yield  to  the  interces 
sions  and  petitions  made  in  their  behalf,  and  deemed  it 
sufficient  to  banish  them  from  Sweden,  to  which  they  were 
forbidden  to  return,  on  the  penalty  of  death.  This  dis 
appointment  did  not  stay  the  riots  of  Rink  and  Knipper- 
dolling.  The  punishment  of  death,  which  they  here  with 
difficulty  escaped,  came  home  to  them,  in  the  tumults  in 
which  they  participated  at  Munstcr,  on  their  return  to  Ger 
many.  How  far  the  impression  made  by  these  brigands  of 
the  Reformation,  or  the  reports  concerning  them,  may  have 
contributed  to  maintain  or  strengthen  an  unfavorable  opinion 
of  the  new  teaching  during  the  succeeding  years,  cannot  be 
estimated.  But  it  is  a  reason  for  not  estimating  this  influence 
too  high,  that  no  mention  is  made  of  it  in  the  private  cor 
respondence  of  Brask,  in  which  the  principal  occurrences  of 
these  years  are  spoken  of  or  discussed.  This  bishop,  if  the 
case  had  awakened  deep  or  extensive  interest,  would  not 
have  failed  to  cite  it  as  a  proof  of  the  perniciousness  of  the 
new  doctrine.  For  the  city,  which  was  its  theatre,  the 
mischief  done  by  the  anabaptists  could  bear  no  other  fruit, 
than  what  is  common  in  such  cases,  to  strengthen  the  aver 
sion  to  anything  new  in  minds  deeply  rooted  in  partiality 
to  the  old  order  of  things.  But,  it  also  gave  vigor  to  the 
new  teachers ;  because  it  modified  and  gave  discretion  to 


118  HISTORY    OF    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

their  advance,  and,  on  the  return  of  order,  after  the  storm 
permitted,  allowed  an  adjustment  between  the  old  and  new. 
It  permitted  that  something  should  be  attributed  to  the 
temper  of  violent  spirits,  and  diminished  still  more  the 
numbers  of  the  lukewarm,  or  entirely  removed  all  sanction 
for  errors  which  merited  to  be  scorned  and  trampled  under 
foot. 

From  this  time  the  Reformation  advanced  in  Stockholm 
with  rapid  steps.  We  cannot  accurately  follow  them,  be 
cause  sources  of  information  are  wanting.  But  the  hints, 
which  here  and  there  are  disclosed  in  public  archives, 
manifest  how  far  this  city  was  in  advance  of  other  parts  of 
the  kingdom.  The  new  doctrines  were  preached  there 
openly,  and  without  hinderance;  psalms,  in  the  Swedish 
language,  were  used  in  divine  service.  Monasteries  and 
guilds  were  allowed  to  remain,  but  with  diminished  respect. 
The  two  monasteries  of  begging  friars  especially  felt  the 
change,  from  the  evident  disinclination  of  the  people  to  give 
them  alms. 

Laurentius  Andreoe  was,  by  his  absence,  protected  from 
the  danger  of  being  infatuated  by  the  error  of  the  ana 
baptists.  The  quiet  sense,  which  enabled  him  to  understand 
the  problem  of  the  Reformation,  while  at  the  same  time  he 
took  into  view  the  church's  connection  with  the  state,  will 
scarcely  allow  of  his  being  reproached  with  those  errors. 
His  desires  centred  in  the  advancement  of  the  peace  and 
welfare  of  the  commonwealth,  and  the  terms  on  which  the 
church's  faith  might  be  secured.  His  ideas  of  the  visible 
church,  and  other  points  that  were  now  in  dispute,  had,  on 
February  14,  1524,  before  the  events  in  Stockholm,  been 
expressed  in  a  letter  to  the  brethren  of  Wadsten.  When 
the  king,  for  the  weal  of  the  kingdom  and  the  conquest  of 
Gothland,  asked  a  loan  of  money  from  the  monastery  of 
Wadsten,  some  of  the  monks,  former  friends  of  Laurentius, 
solicited  his  protection,  and  recommendation  to  the  kin£  in 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  119 

behalf  of  their  establishment.  They  regarded  this  demand 
of  the  king  as  a  felony  of  holy  things.  "  Therein,"  answers 
master  Lars,  "  they  were  mistaken  in  calling  it  a  felony  of 
holy  things,  to  use  for  the  benefit  of  one's  neighbor  the 
money  belonging  to  the  church,  or,  to  adopt  their  own 
words,  dedicated  to  God.  They  understood  not  their  own 
language.  For,  when  they  called  it  the  church's  money, 
they  pronounced  it  the  money  of  the  people.  It  had  be 
come  common  to  use  the  term  '  church'  for  the  prelates  or 
the  clergy,  or  sometimes  for  the  material  edifice.  But  in  the 
Holy  Scriptures,  it  is  spoken  only  of  men,  and  especially  of 
the  community  of  believers.  Therefore,  when  we  speak  of 
the  church's  money,  what  do  we  speak  of  but  the  people's 
money.  Such  were  the  contributions  of  which  mention  is 
made  in  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles  and  epistles  of  Paul,  out 
of  which  widows  and  the  poor  were  maintained,  and  the 
administration  of  which  belonged  to  the  deacons  or  ministers, 
apart  from  the  apostles,  who  were  to  give  attendance  to  the 
word  of  God,  and  not  be  hindered  by  such  worldly  things. 
But  we,  who  are  successors  of  the  apostles,  have  abandoned 
God's  word,  and  use  his  church's,  that  is  to  say  the  people's 
money,  as  if  it  were  our  own.  It  were  well,  if  we  so  used 
it  as  the  deacons  did,  in  helping  the  necessities  of  our  poor 
neighbors.  But  we  keep  it  to  adorn  the  walls  of  temples, 
or  to  build  the  shrines  of  saints,  or  for  the  host,  or  for  other 
purposes,  which,  perhaps,  are  forbidden  of  God,  or  nowhere 
commanded  in  the  Holy  Scriptures.  Moreover,  we  consider 
ourselves  to  act  piously  when  we  lean  upon  a  reed,  and 
plead  custom  and  the  decrees  of  the  pope,  which  are  in  no 
wise  to  T)e  observed  when  they  militate  against  the  Holy  Scriptures. 
We  priests  steal  this  money,  in  the  name  of  God,  from  the 
people,  and  make  free  use  of  it,  as  if  we  were  not  its  stewards 
bnt  its  owners.  We  call  the  place  of  assembling  for  the 
faithful  the  house  of  God,  not  because  God  dwells  in  houses 
made  by  hands,  but  because  the  faithful  are  wont  there  to 


120  HISTORY    OP    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

come  together  to  learn  the  things  of  God,  especially  God's 
word.  Therefore,  as  the  house  is  for  the  men,  the  money  is 
for  the  men.  It  is  consequently  impious,  when  the  people 
are  in  danger,  for  any  one  to  think  he  ought  to  spare  the 
church's  money,  and  let  his  poor  neighbor,  whom  Christ 
commanded  us  to  love,  and  for  Avhom  he  died,  be  so  far 
oppressed  as  to  suffer  hunger  and  thirst.  Has  God,  then, 
more  care  of  stocks  and  stones  than  of  men  ?  Would  to 
God,  that  we  clergy  had  a  like  concern  for  our  neighbor's 
salvation  as  we  have  care  for  money.  What  godless  piety, 
when  the  wealth  of  the  church  is  rather  bestowed  on  stately, 
3^ea,  sometimes  extravagant  structures,  than  on  the  neces 
sities  of  the  faithful !  Otherwise  acted  the  old  Jewish  kings, 
Joash  and  Hezekiah,  of  whom  the  one  sent  to  Hazael,  king 
of  Syria,  all  that  he  could  find  in  the  treasury  of  the  temple, 
to  induce  him  to  withdraw  from  Jerusalem  ;  the  other  broke 
up  the  vessels  in  the  temple  of  the  Lord  and  the  golden 
shields  he  had  himself  fixed  there,  to  give  them  to  the  king 
of  Assyria.  Neither  of  these  is  blamed  in  scripture  for  hav 
ing  thus,  for  their  subjects,  bought  what  is  surely  the  most 
precious  of  all  things,  peace.  Now,  a  most  Christian  prince 
who  does  likewise,  is  called  a  felon  of  holy  things.  In  what 
doep  hidden  meaning  could  they  well  call  it  a  felony  of 
sacred  things,  to  give  this  holy  money  to  God's  holy  temple  9" 
Master  Lars  adds,  that  he  could  write  more  on  this  theme, 
did  not  the  other  business  of  the  king  prevent  him. 

In  conclusion,  he  desires,  in  the  same  letter,  to  let  the 
brethren  of  Wadsten  know,  that  the  king,  when  in  Wadsten, 
heard  with  dissatisfaction  some  one  declare  that  a  "less 
catholic  teaching"  was  spread  over  the  kingdom.  The 
king's  pleasure  was,  that  they  should  refrain  from  such  vain 
speeches,  lest  the  people  should  be  misled  by  them.  They 
should  prove  all,  and  hold  fast  that  which  is  good.  If,  there 
fore,  in  some  of  the  new  books,  either  of  Martin  Luther  or 
of  others,  they  found  strange  doctrine,  they  should  not  cast 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  121 

them  away  before  carefully  reading  them  through,  and  crit-| 
ically  examining  them.  If  they  found  anything  at  war  with 
the  truth,  they  also  might  write  books  and  confute  such 
doctrine  through  the  Holy  Scriptures.  Thus,  teachers  might 
test  what  was  right,  and  the  truth  be  conformably  promul 
gated  from  the  pulpit,  and  not  according  to  one-sided  views. 
He  doubted  not,  that  some  among  them  were  competent  to 
this.  "  For,  although  little  comes  to  my  knowledge  of  the 
doctrine  called  Martin  Luther's,  yet,  from  the  little  I  have  | 
seen,  I  have  discovered,  that  he  cannot  be  confuted  by  us  L 
simple  men,  because  he  is  protected,  not  by  the  weapons  of  /; 
St.  Bridget  or  any  other,  but  by  the  weapons  of  the  divine'' 
scriptures.  We  must  take  care,  if  even  we  have  truth, 
that  we  do  not,  illy  armed  or  entirely  unarmed,  advance 
against  the  well  armed,  and  thus  make  manifest  our  own 
simplicity." 

This  letter  of  a  prelate  of  the  church,  is  in  the  main  a 
declaration  of  the  general  principles  of  protestantism.  Re 
gard  for  the  Holy  Scriptures,  independence  of  traditions,  the 
idea  of  the  church  as  the  society  of  the  faithful,  who  are  all 
alike  accounted  members  of  it ;  these,  with  more,  are  the 
outlines  of  what  is  signified  or  expressed  in  that  letter.  Its 
writer  had  thrown  down  this  gauntlet  of  defiance  in  the 
diocese  which  was  almost  the  only  one  where  the  ecclesias 
tical  power  still  remained  in  its  strength,  and  in  a  monas 
tery  which,  of  all  those  in  the  North,  was  most  respected, 
and  which  stood  in  constant  communication  with  Rome, 
whose  chair  it  regarded  as  the  mirror  of  sanctity. 

Laurentius  Andreas  was  a  man  of  action  ;  and  his  activity  -. 
was  directed  by  the  principles  of  the  Reformation.  Butj 
nothing  he  had  written  had  he  yet  put  to  press,  nor  had? 
Olaus  Petri  carried  his  instruction  beyond  what  he  could 
communicate  from  the  chair,  the  pulpit,  or  through  personal  T 
intercourse.  The  influence  of  the  activity  of  these  two  men- 
must  thus  have  been  defective  in  depth  and  compass.  But 

6 


122  HISTORY   OF   THE   ECCLESIASTICAL 

the  minds  of  men  were  at  this  time  inflammable.  The 
attempt  at  reformation  had  loosened  many  bonds  ;  and  it 
was  a  moment,  in  Western  Europe,  when  men  talked  of 
reform,  even  if  they  could  not  clearly  determine  wherein  it 
ought  to  consist ;  and  when  even  those  who  were  friends 
of  the  old  order  of  things,  urged  reform,  though  the  old 
attachments  made  them  irresolute,  in  comparison  with  the 
often  headlong  zealots  for  a  change. 

A  century  had  rolled  away  since  the  demand  for  reform 
had  been  the  watchword  of  almost  the  whole  of  the  western 
church,  even  in  its  ecclesiastical  councils.  This  cry  had 
abated,  but  was  never  put  to  silence,  till  it  was  again  loudly 
raised  through  Luther. 

At  such  times  the  ideas  of  uneasy  minds  hover  around  a 
name,  a  word,  often  without  further  apprehension  of  its 
significance  than  that  it  is  connected  with  deliverance  from 
the  old  constraint.  It  acts  as  a  skeleton-key  of  argument, 
which  is  to  dissolve  an  enchantment.  So  was  it  with  many 
Lutherans,  who  knew  little  more  of  Luther  than  that  he 
defied  the  pope  and  the  priests.  But  not  merely  were  such 
common  challenges  of  freedom  now  at  work  in  Sweden. 
We  have  seen  how  master  Lars  showed  what  he  thought 
and  wished.  Travellers  from  Sweden,  or  strangers  who  had 
been  in  Germany,  could  accurately  describe  the  condition 
of  things  in  that  country.  The  writings  of  Luther  and 
others,  against  the  papacy,  its  doctrines  and  constitution, 
were  circulated  and  read  with  avidity.  They  were  welcome 
in  monasteries,  among  the  burghers  of  towns,  among  the 
pastors  of  churches,  among  knights  and  nobles.  We  find 
traces  of  Lutheranism  even  there,  where  the  reformers,  in 
the  peculiar  meaning  of  that  term,  could  not  operate.  With 
the  exception  of  Stockholm,  the  see  of  Linkoping  was  per 
haps  most  exposed  to  the  infection.  The  great  commercial 
towns  of  Soderkoping  and  Kalmar,  lay  exposed  to  foreign 
influence.  So  too  with  Wisby,  though  at  first  it  was  defended 


REFORMATION   IN    SWEDEN.  123 

from  Lutheranism,  by  the  regard  felt  for  its  bishop.  The 
war,  which  for  a  time  centred  in  these  par!s,  also  operated 
against  the  power  of  the  church.  Bishop  Brask  complains, 
that  all  around  Kalmar,  the  Lutherans  spread  erroneous 
opinions,  and  enervated  church  discipline.  He  had  been 
informed  that  the  brethren  of  the  hospital  at  Soderkoping  < 
had  concluded  to  send  two  of  their  number  to  Germany,  to 
finish  their  studies  there,  and  that  one  of  them  in  his  preach 
ing,  had  declared  himself  favorable  to  the  Lutheran  errors. 
The  bishop,  therefore,  strictly  forbade  the  prior  to  allow  them 
to  leave  the  limits  of  Sweden  without  the  king's  and  the 
bishop's  consent,  because  so  many  parts  of  Germany  were 
infected  with  that  heresy.  But  if  their  going  out  of  the 
country  was  necessary,  they  must  previously  appear  in 
person  before  the  bishop.  Berendt  Von  Helen,  who  had 
the  investiture  of  Kalmar,  was  advised  by  the  bishop  not  to 
suffer  priests  to  unite  in  marriage  persons  who  were  nearer 
of  kin  than  the  fourth  or  fifth  degree,  according  to  church 
law  and  established  custom ;  "  notwithstanding  many  of 
Luther's  party  countenanced  such  and  many  other  evils 
which  ivere  complained  of  as  very  common."  A  Dominican 
monk  who  collected  alms  in  the  neighborhood  of  Skenninge, 
had,  in  the  presence  of  many,  said  that  he  gave  what  was 
collected,  to  the  monastery  and  St.  Olof  the  devil. 

Nor  were  the  walls  of  Wadsten  itself,  a  shelter  from 
trouble.  The  brethren  of  this  monastery,  sent  the  above- 
quoted  letter  of  master  Lars,  to  their  bishop,  to  ask  "his 
counsel  and  aid.  The  spark  had  kindled.  Within  their 
cloister,  often  before  the  theatre  of  strife  and  discord,  had 
appeared  a  disposition  to  freer  opinions,  and  many  turned  to 
the  side  where  it  was  believed  the  favor  and  grace  of  the 
king  would  meet  them.  In  the  case  of  the  Lutheran  heresy, 
they  dreaded  more  the  human  than  the  divine  majesty. 
The  bishop,  who  thought  he  saw  in  the  letter  of  master 
Lars,  much  that  was  not  seemly  in  a  good  prelate,  counselled 


124  HISTORY    OF    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

them  not  to  allow  themselves  to  be  drawn  from  the  true 
foundation  of  trflth,  though  an  angel  from  heaven  preached 
any  other.  Religion  depended  more  upon  the  simplicity  of 
truth,  than  on  the  subtle  and  swollen  words  of  worldly 
science.  He  wished  them  to  bear  in  mind,  what  canonical 
law  established  respecting  obedience,  the  church's  unity,  the 
church's  order,  and  the  church's  property. 

But  he  was  himself  excited,  by  all  he  had  learned,  to 
stronger  measures  and  courses  of  action.  Two  years  before, 
in  1522,  he  had  publicly,  by  a  notice  at  the  entrances  and 
doors  of  churches,  and  by  proclamations  from  the  pulpits  of 
all  towns,  forbidden  to  buy,  sell,  receive,  spread,  or  read,  the 
writings  which  emanated  from  the  Lutheran  heresy,  until  a 
council  of  the  church  had  examined  their  contents.  To  the 
town  of  Soderkoping,  the  bishop,  on  June  3d,  1521,  wrote 
that  he  daily  learned  that  many  men  from  abroad,  both  mer 
chants  and  others,  brought  into  the  diocese  these  heretical 
doctrines  and  books,  and  seduced  Swedes  not  better  informed 
than  to  abandon  holy  Christian  truth  and  obedience.  He, 
therefore,  would  implore  them  not  to  postpone  truth  to  such 
false  doctrines.  The  burgomaster  and  council  ought,  if  any 
one  was  faulty  in  this  respect,  to  take  bail  for  his  person, 
and  sequester  his  property,  till  the  king  and  spiritual  judges 
had  pronounced  a  decision  on  his  person  and  goods,  accord 
ing  to  the  equity  of  the  church  and  of  the  civil  law. 

The  prohibition  was  repeated,  on  Easter  Even  of  1525, 
nnd-  was  now  affixed  to  the  doors  of  all  the  churches  and 
convents  within  the  diocese.  The  bishop  was  persuaded 
that  the  Lutheran  heresy  would  be  arrested.  God  would 
not  always  be  angry  with  his  people.  Its  errors  were  enu 
merated.  The  friends  of  this  heresy  condemned  the  mass, 
despised  the  sacraments  of  the  church,  disapproved  the  holy 
estate  of  single  life,  and  would  open  the  doors  of  the  con 
vent*,  that  monks  and  nuns  might  freely  leave  them,  and 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  125 

enter  into  wedlock.  They  overthrew  the  images  of  Christ 
and  the  saints,  and  forbade  as  godless  the  worship  of  the 
Virgin.  They  wanted  to  make  the  estate  of  the  church 
odious  to  the  laity.  They  recognized,  in  the  civil  power, 
the  right  to  break  and  alter  the  ordinances  of  the  church, 
and  to  gain  a  freedom  which  they  called  Christian,  but  which 
might  better  be  called  Lutheran,  yea,  Luciferan.  They 
despised  the  judgments  and  laws  of  the  church  and  state. 
They  declared  the  merit  of  good  works,  purgatory,  confes 
sion,  penance,  fasts,  canonical  times,  invocation  of  saints, 
prayers  for  the  dead,  and  indulgences,  to  be  but  the  devices 
of  men.  Laymen,  priests,  and  monks,  were  infected  with 
these  eiTors,  spoke  of  Lutheranism  as  of  the  gospel  itself,  and 
were  ready  to  defend  the  doctrine  of  their  chief,  because  they 
knew  nothing  of  it,  or  at  least,  did  not  understand  it.  All, 
therefore,  ought  to  beseech  God  to  protect  his  church,  to 
warn  people  and  priests  against  these  errors,  and  attend  to 
the  church's  doctrine,  customs,  and  ordinances. 

In  conlusion,  Brask  continued  diligently  to  watch  the  pro 
ceedings  in  Germany,  expressed  his  hopes  when  he  thought 
he  perceived  the  heresy  to  be  on  the  decline,  and  published 
such  refutations  of  it  as  he  deemed  most  likely  to  effect  the 
object. 

He  addressed  king  Gustavus,  on  May  21,  1524,  assuring 
him  of  the  loyalty  in  which  he  was  bound  to  him,  but 
beseeching  him,  for  the  king's  own  sake,  and  for  the  sake  of 
the  kingdom,  that  he  would  not  further  the  purchase  and 
sale  of  Luther's  books  in  the  kingdom,  or  allow  Luther's 
disciples  support  and  protection,  before  a  council  of  the 
church  should  determine  what  should  be  renounced  or  adopt 
ed.  "  The  Germans  have  received  no  faith  for  our  sake  ; 
neither  should  we  reject  any  for  theirs."  This  letter  was  a 
covert  complaint  against  the  king's  chancellor.  But  the 
king  did  not  leave  his  servant  without  protection.  He  re- 


126  HISTORY    OF   THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

plied  that  he  did  not  perceive  how  lie  could  forbid  the 
writings  of  Luther,  when  he  had  not  yet  found  them  con 
demned  by  impartial  judges.  Writings  against  Luther 
were  imported  into  the  country.  It  was  but  justice  that 
men  should  have  cognizance  of  both  sides.  None  of  Lu 
ther's  disciples  had  asked  aid  or  protection  from  the  king. 
But  if  it  were  so,  the  bishop  ought  to  know  that  the  king 
was  bound,  in  his  sovereignty,  to  protect  every  subject.  If 
the  bishop  wished,  in  a  lawful  way,  to  address  or  reprimand 
any  who  were  under  the  king's  protection,  he  would  find  the 
king  offer  no  impediment. 

It  is  remarkable  that  neither  this  answer,  nor  many  ex 
pressions  and  actions  still  more  decisive,  led  Brask  to  despair 
of  the  king.  During  the  three  years  and  more,  he  passed  at 
home,  and  in  the  exercise  of  his  office,  he  ceased  not  to 
warn,  to  advise,  to  complain,  and  to  remonstrate,  with  king 
Gustavus  himself,  and  his  friends.  But,  the  hope  of  better 
times,  though  lessened,  was  not  abandoned  by  him.  As  late 
as  1526,  he  writes,  that  he  had  hopes  of  the  king,  "  whose 
heart  is  in  the  hand  of  God,  who  is  able  of  a  Saul  to  make 
a  Paul,"  if  only  evil  counsellors  were  put  away  from  the 
king. 

The  friends  within  the  land  in  whom  Brask  most  trusted, 
and  to  whom  he  could  open  his  heart,  were  the  high  stew 
ard  of  the  kingdom,  Thure  Jonsson,  and  the  bishop  elect  of 
Skara,  Mans  Haraldsson.  The  latter  was  a  good  papist, 
though  dissatisfied  with  the  difficulties  which  arose  to  his 
obtaining  the  see,  and  straitened  in  his  energies  by  the 
uncertainty  of  his  position.  He  approximated  to  Brask, 
and  rarely  undertook  anything  without  consulting  him. 
Brask  made  him  his  deputy  at  the  diet  held  during  this  year 
not  being  present  there  in  person  ;  and  set  his  seal  to  no 
decree  without  concert  with  the  bishop  elect  of  Skara. 
Mans,  too,  closely  watched  the  progress  of  events.  When  he 


REFORMATION   IN    SWEDEN.  127 

received  some  heretical  books  from  master  Sven,  canon  of 
Skara,  then  engaged  in  the  king's  chancery,  and  in  1529, 
elected  to  the  see  of  Skara,  and  which  books  were  sent  to 
the  king  from  Rome,  he  left  them  with  Bishop  Brask,  and 
to  the  information  that  the  king  caused  them  to  be  sent, 
adds  this  prayer :  "  May  God  forgive  those  who  sent  such 
books  to  a  stiff-necked  people,  hard  of  heart." 

To  these  men,  a  respect  for  the  church's  law  and  consti 
tution,  was  the  first  and  imperative  duty  of  a  Christian 
man.  Canon  law  soon  appeared  to  be  their  bible.  The 
rules  of  canon  law,  and  the  schoolmen,  were  to  them  what 
proofs  from  the  Holy  Scriptures  were  to  the  Lutherans.  So 
acted  Dr.  Nils,  of  Striingness,  and  so  bishop  Brask. 

When  some  scholars  from  Upland,  as  Rasmus  Ludvigsson 
relates,  came  on  a  certain  occasion  to  bishop  Brask,  he  asked 
them  what  the  Lutherans  taught.  They  answered,  "  The 
pope  is  anti-christ,  and  the  prelates  followers  of  anti-christ." 
"  Then,"  said  the  bishop,  "  it  is  not  long  since  the  admin 
istrator,  Sten  Sture,  placed  me  at  his  right  hand,  and  now  I 
shall  be  proclaimed  an  anti-christ."  He  proceeded  to  in 
quire  on  what  these  new  teachers  relied.  The  scholars 
answered,  they  relied  on  Paul.  On  this  the  bishop  rose  up 
from  his  seat  and  exclaimed,  "  Better  had  Paul  been  burnt, 
than  that  he  should  be  where  we  may  suppose."  * 

This  is  the  very  expression  it  is  declared  that  he  used. 
It  is  not  unlikely,  though  the  words  were  not  meant  to  apply 
to  St.  Paul  in  particular.  According  to  the  views  of  the 
Roman  church,  which  supposes  its  developments  to  be  under 
the  immediate  teaching  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  a  return  to  the 
pure  and  simple  teaching  of  the  apostles  must  be  a  heresy, 
and  the  apostles  themselves  must  appear  as  heretics  when 
they  stand  forth  to  protest  against  these  developments. 

*  When,  before  bishop  Ogmund  of  Skalholt,  a  certain  priest  was  accused 
of  heresy,  he  was  asked,  on  what  he  built  his  heresy.  He  replied,  "On  the 
words  of  St.  Paul."  The  bishop  rejoined,  "Paul  was  a  teacher  for  the 
heathen,  not  for  us." 


128  HISTORY  or  THE  ECCLESIASTICAL 

Bishop  Brask  issued  out  threats  of  excommunication  and 
interdicts  within  his  diocese,  but  without  success  even  there, 
when  an  order  of  the  king  that  compulsive  measures  should 
not  be  employed  rendered  the-  bishop's  blows  impotent. 
Neither  was  he  from  the  first  supported  in  his  zeal.  No 
where  could  threats  and  interdict  be  issued  except  in  the 
diocese  of  Linkoping,  nor  there  with  the  same  force  and 
authority  as  aforetime.  We  are  in  want  of  information  how 
the  chapters  of  the  several  sees  were  affected  toward  the 
cause  of  the  Reformation.  That  the  chapter  of  Upsala  was 
attached  to  the  cause  of  the  papacy  is  clear  enough,  although 
it  had  suffered  much  in  the  contests  of  its  bishops  with  the 
administrators  and  the  kings,  from  the  time  of  John  Bengts- 
son,  and  had  thence  learned  caution.  The  differences  of 
opinion  in  the  chapter  of  Striingness  may  furnish  a  presump 
tion  of  a  like  condition  of  things  among  the  rest.  Seldom 
or  never  does  a  case  arise  among  men,  however  founded  on 
right,  but  that  it  is  neglected  or  betrayed  by  some  of  those 
who  ought  to  be  its  protection. 

John  Magnus  could  certainly,  as  papal  legate,  if  else  able 
utter  the  death  of  pope  Adrian,  to  take  cognizance  of  its 
concerns,  be  possessed  of  the  power  to  take  the  necessary 
measures  for  quieting  the  church.  But  he  was  fettered  not 
only  by  his  own  natural  want  of  decision,-  but  by  his  election 
as  archbishop,  and  his  uncertain  position  as  long  as  the  pope 
did  not  approve  the  deposition  of  Trolle.  As  long,  too,  as  a 
man  attached  to  the  Reformation  stood  near  the  king  in  the 
enjoyment  of  his  full  confidence,  Magnus  might  not  have 
thought  it  advisable,  by  rigid  measures,  which  would  have 
proved  empty,  to  expose  his  real  want  of  power. 

In  1523,  Olaus  Petri,  with  others,  had  received  a  sum 
mons,  and  been  warned  by  him  to  desist  from  preaching  the 
gospel.  But  we  do  not  find  that  he  did  anything  more. 

The  disorder  and  commotion  in  the  Swedish  church  must 
not,  however,  be  represented  as  at  this  time  such,  th.it  the 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  129 

old  order  was  lost,  and  its  preservation  set  at  naught.  We 
have  already  spoken  of  the  signs  which,  in  the  year  1524, 
foreboded  the  storm.  But,  in  general,  the  community  of 
church  and  state,  proceeded  in  the  order  of  law,  according 
to  the  old  institutions  and  customs.  The  rites  of  public 
worship  went  on  uninterruptedly ;  the  discipline  of  the  church 
was  maintained ;  the  chapters  examined  the  candidates  for 
the  different  grades  of  office,  and  the  bishops  made  visit 
ations  of  their  sees.  Bishop  Brask  gave  forty  days'  indul 
gence  to  all  such  as  would  aid  the  abbot  of  Nydala  to  collect 
the  rents,  which  were  wont  to  be  paid  to  the  convent  from 
the  district  of  Smaland,  but  of  which,  after  the  massacres 
of  Christian  the  cruel,  the  returns  were  more  slowly  rendered 
by  the  peasantry.  In  the  year  1525  was  printed,  at  Upsala, 
a  collection  of  the  decrees  of  the  council  of  the  ecclesiastical 
province  of  Upsala,  which  had  been  issued  in  1440,  during 
the  life  of  archbishop  Nicholas  Ragvaldi ;  at  the  same  time 
there  was  published,  at  Upsala,  a  popish  mass  book,  and  a 
manual  of  prayer  at  Soderkoping.  As  the  so  called  year 
of  jubilee  was  approaching,  in  which  every  pilgrim  to  the 
shrines  of  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul  at  Rome,  obtains  a  full 
indulgence,  Clement  VII.  issued  beforehand  a  bull.  In  this 
bull,  it  was  made  known,  that,  in  consideration  of  the  great 
distance  from  Rome,  the  war,  and  other  hinderances,  the 
jubilee  would  be  observed  in  Sweden,  by  whoever  confessed 
his  sins  to  any  father  confessor  that  might  be  chosen,  which 
father  had  the  power  to  release  the  person  confessing  from 
all  sins,  and  from  all,  except  the  four  cardinal  vows,  provided, 
that,  after  confession,  he  fasted  on  Wednesday,  Friday,  and 
Saturday,  repeated  on  these  days  five  paternosters  and  ave 
Marias,  in  memory  of  the  Bufferings  of  Christ  and  the  five 
wounds ;  giving  also,  according  to  his  ability,  alms  to  the 
poor,  and  receiving  the  eucharist  the  following  Sunday. 

The  papal  chair  remitted  all  money  dues  of  this  year  of 
jubilee,  a  remission  very  acceptable  to  bishop  Brask.    "  They 

6* 


130  HISTORY    OF    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

who  favored  heresy,"  he  said,  "  pretended  that  indulgences 
were  a  bribe  for  good  works,  and  a  mere  means  of  getting 
money  for  the  pope.  They  were  now  confuted ;  since  the 
pope  gave  this  indulgence  for  nothing,  and  since  he  who 
received  it  was  excited  to  fast,  give  alms,  and,  as  far  as 
human  infirmity  admits,  be  worthily  prepared  for  the  recep 
tion  of  the  Lord's  supper." 

Since  the  time,  when  Arcimbold  was  engaged  here,  in 
his  office  of  pardon  monger,  what  a  change  had  six  years 
wrought  for  Rome  !  Then  the  grace  of  indulgence  was  sold 
for  money,  now  it  was  given  for  nothing,  if  anybody  would 
take  it. 

The  end  of  the  year  1524,  was  memorable  for  the  first 
public  disputation  between  the  contending  parties.  When 
king  Gustavus  held  his  Christmas  festivities  at  Upsala,  at  his 
request,  and  that  of  many  of  his  council,  this  disputation 
was  held  in  presence  of  the  chapter,  between  Olaus  Petri 
and  doctor  Peter  Galle.  This  man,  an  intimate  friend  of 
bishop  Brask,  was  scholasticus  of  the  chapter,  or,  as  he  calls 
himself,  professor  of  theology  at  Upsala.  lie  died  in  1537, 
or  the  year  after.  He  must  have  been  considered  the  most 
skillful  champion  of*  the  land,  to  defend,  by  pen  and  tongue, 
the  Roman  church,  as  he  was  more  than  once  summoned  to 
that  duty.  He  was  a  learned  man,  but  in  disposition  he 
was  still  andsquict.  His  name  was  Galle,  but  he  was  with 
out  gall. 

The  disputation  involved  the  most  momentous  tenets,  in 
which  the  papists  and  Lutherans  differed  from  each  other. 
It  was  carried  on  with  much  vehemence,  and  Olof  was  the 
superior,  in  that  he  proved  his  propositions  from  holy 
scripture. 

This  report  of  the  disputation  may  be  relied  on,  for  the 
thing  itself  has  strong  probability.  It  corresponded  with 
the  king's  course  of  conduct,  not  to  declare  himself  for 
either  side,  but  to  allow  the  champions  to  measure  their 


REFORMATION   IN    SWEDEN.  131 

strength,  and  by  tliat  means  to  gain  more  certain  informa 
tion.  This  must  also  have  been  a  contest  very  agreeable 
to  the  wishes  of  Olof,  and  those  like  minded,  for  the  contest 
was  itself  a  victory,  and  was  the  means  of  attracting  attention 
to  their  doctrines.  It  is  the  usual  difference  between  the 
friends  of  the  old  and  the  new  views,  and  marks  their  respect 
ive  merits  and  defects,  that  the  former  rely  upon  the  cause  to 
defend  them,  the  latter  upon  themselves  to  defend  the  cause. 
What  Rasmus  Ludvigsson  reports  of  Brask's  dissatisfaction 
with  the  archbishop's  permitting  this  disputation,  and  thus 
drawing  things  already  settled  in  the  church  into  a  fresh  in 
vestigation,  is  very  much  in  agreement  with  that  bishop's 
principles.  But  our  oldest  sources  of  information  are,  in 
this  case,  not  altogether  clear.  Tcgel  reports  the  case,  but 
is  undoubtedly  mistaken,  when  he  makes  the  twelve  ques 
tions  put  forth  in  1526,  to  be  a  fruit  of  this  disputation. 
Messenius  furnishes  us  the  same  substance  of  debate,  but 
gives  the  Avrong  year,  when,  as  does  the  oldest  witness, 
Rasmus  Ludvigsson,  he  refers  the  matter  to  1525,  in  which 
year  the  king  passed  his  Christmas  not  in  Upsala  but 
Wadsten. 

In  the  year  following,  1525,  there  was  again  a  disputation 
respecting  the  truth  at  the  diet  of  Westeras.  We  know  no 
more  of  it,  than  that  John  Magnus,  according  to  his  own 
report,  with  energy  and  success,  placed  himself  in  opposition 
to  the  new  teachers. 

The  beginning  of  the  year  1525,  wasj^le  full  of  signif 
icance  by  the  marriage,  on  Septuagesinia"SSimday  (Feb 
ruary  12),  of  Olaus  Petri,  who,  "  being  a  deacon,  thus  re 
belled  against  papal  usage,  and  put  at  defiance  t^e  exist 
ing  laws  of  the  church."  He  wanted  not  precedents,  since 
the  marriage  of  clergymen  had  taken  place  in  Germany 
as  early  as  1522,  though  he  had  not  the  example  of  his 
master;  since  Luther  was  not  married  till  June,  1525,  some 
months  later  than  Olof.  The  case  was  a  thunderclap  of 


132  1IJSTOKY    OF    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

scandal,  although  somewhat  softened  by  his  not  having  yet 
taken  priest's  orders.  The  bishop  of  Linkoping  could 
scarcely  credit  the  report  when  it  reached  his  ears,  and 
was  reluctant  that  the  heads  of  the  church  should  leave  the 
case  without  avenging  it.  He  mourned  over  it  to  his  friends, 
and  wrote  the  same  day  to  the  king  and  the  archbishop. 
He  urged  the  latter,  by  his  sense  of  duty,  to  put  a  stop  to 
the  delusion,  and  if.it  was  necessary,  to  call  on  the  king  for 
aid.  To  the  king  he  represented,  that  this  marriage  of  a 
man  belonging  to  the  spiritual  estate,  and  who  was  in  the 
metropolis  of  the  kingdom,  was  a  topic  of  conversation 
throughout  the  land.  Much  irregularity  would  be  the 
result,  as  the  law  did  not  recognize  the  inheritance  of  the 
children  of  priests.  The  Greek  church  did  not  permit  those 
who  were  already  in  the  clerical  state  to  marry,  although 
she  permitted  those  already  married  to  be,  on  certain  con 
ditions,  ordained.  The  marriage  of  master  Olof,  therefore, 
was  not  legitimate  wedlock  or  the  conjugal  state,  but  he 
would,  according  to  the  church's  rule,  be  under  a  curse  for 
such  an  actv  The  king,  therefore,  should  aid  in  punishing 
this  offence,  as  was  the  duty  of  a  Christian  prince. 

John  Magnus  was,  as  usual,  still  and  quiet.  The  king 
again  declared,  that  he  was  ignorant  of  Olof  s  marriage,  till 
it  had  already  taken  place,  nor  when  it  occurred  had  he 
been  at  Stockholm  but  in  IJpsala.  He  had  already  sum 
moned  master  Olof,  and  desired  him  to  say  how  he  would 
justify  his  action,  so  contrary  to  old  usages.  Master  Olof 
answered,  he  would  justify  it  by  the  law  of  God,  before 
equitable  judges,  who  would  take  into  account,  whether  the 
law  of  God  should  not  take  precedence  of  human  law. 
"Such  being  his  answer,"  continues  the  king,  "that  he 
entirely  submits  to  be  judged  thereby,  we  cannot  refuse  him. 
If  he  cannot  defend  and  justify  himself,  we  leave  him  to  the 
consequences."  It  seemed  to  him  strange,  that  a  man,  who 
belonged  to  the  spiritual  estate,  should,  according  to  the  law 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  133 

• 

of  the  pope,  be  excommunicated  for  marriage,  which  God 
had  not  forbidden,  and  yet  not  be  for  breaches  of  the  sixth 
commandment. 

It  appears  that  the  predictions  of  the  ill  will  and  troubles 
to  be  raised  by  Olof  s  marriage  were  not  verified.  Clerical 
celibacy  was,  with  difficulty,  after  its  introduction  in  1248, 
enforced,  at  least  with  strictness,  within  the  Swedish  church. 
The  dissatisfaction  of  the  people  at  first, with  the  restriction 
itself,  and  afterward  with  its  loose  observance,  diminished 
the  dissatisfaction  when  it  was  thrown  aside.  It  was  so 
common  for  the  priests  to  live  in  commerce  with  women, 
though  not  sanctioned  and  blessed  by  the  church,  that  the 
supplement  of  the  church's  blessings  could  not  be  scandalous 
in  the  eyes  of  those  who  were  living  in  no  nearer  conformity 
to  the  church's  teachings  and  laws.  Concubinage  was  so 
common,  that  fines  for  the  mistresses  of  priests  and  their 
bastards,  were  no  inconsiderable  sources  of  revenue  to  the 
bishops. 

King  Gustavus,  who  strictly  maintained  his  purpose  to 
restrain  the  abuses  of  the  old  order  of  things,  and  check  the 
forwardness  of  the  new,  took,  during  this  year,  a  step  which 
advanced  the  improvement  in  the  church's  faith  and  teach 
ing.  The  Lutherans  constantly  appealed  to  the  Holy  Scrip 
tures,  as  the  witness  against  the  doctrines  and  constitution 
of  the  church,  as  then  existing.  The  popishly  affected 
clergy  were  exceptionable  judges  in  the  dispute.  The  ap 
peal  must  be  to  the  people.  But  to  form  a  judgment  they 
must  have  a  knowledge  of  the  word  of  God,  on  which  the 
men  of  the  new  views  avouched  themselves  to  stand.  The 
Bible  must  be  made  accessible  in  the  mother-tongue,  in  order 
to  determine  the  controversy.  The  common  people  demand 
ed  such  a  translation.  But  the  wish  to  open  to.  the  hearts 
of  men  the  healthful  streams  of  the  divine  word,  for  comfort 
and  consolation,  was  compatible  with  lioman  catholic,  though 
not  with  papistic  belief;  since  no  general  council  had  con- 


134  HISTORY    OF   THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

firmed  the  policy  adopted  in  1229,  of  forbidding  the  laity  to 
possess  or  read  the  Bible  in  their  mother-tongue.  Transla 
tions  already  existed  before  the  Lutheran  Reformation. 

There  was,  however,  at  this  time,  no.  translation  of  the 
Holy  Scriptures  to  be  found  in  the  Swedish  tongue.  Por 
tions  had  been  translated,  but  not  the  whole,  and  these  por 
tions  were  very  rarely  in  the  hands  of  the  people.  The 
translation  which  ^doctor  Matthias,  father  confessor  of  St. 
Bridget's,  made,  was  so  scarce,  that  bishop  Brask,  in  1525, 
knew  of  it  only  by  report. 

In  the  year  1522,  came  out  Luther's  translation  of  the 
New  Testament.  Two  years  after  came  out  the  Danish 
translation,  which  is  attributed  to  the  burgomaster  of  Malmo, 
Hans  Mickelsen,  who  was  a  fugitive  with  king  Christian. 
This  is  said  to  have  called  to  mind  the  need  of  having  the 
precious  possession  in  the  Swedish  tongue. 

King  Gustavus  made  application  on  the  subject  to  the 
archbishop  elect,  and  desired  that  the  prelates  of  the  church 
-would  provide  a  translation  of  the  New  Testament  in  Swe 
dish.  The  king  alleged,  as  a  reason,  that  almost  all  nations 
had  the  New  Testament,  indeed  the  whole  of  the  sacred  vol 
ume,  in  their  own  language.  The  times  were  such,  that,  in 
consequence  of  the  many  disputes  respecting  the  sacred 
writings,  it  was  necessary  to  lay  them  open  before  all 
Christian  people  and  congregations,  that  pious  and  well-in 
formed  Christians  might  render  an  intelligent  judgment,  in 
order  to  quiet  the  existing  divisions.  The  king  had  with 
sorrow  learned,  «  what  even  I,"  says  John  Magnus,  "  must, 
alas !  acknowledge  to  be  true,"  that  the  clergy  were  so  ill 
educated,  that  very  few  of  them  could  preach  God's  word  to 
the  people.  Some  could  not  correctly  read  the  Holy  Scrip 
tures,  still  less  expound  them  ;  and  for  such  it  was  undoubt 
edly  useful  to  have  the  Bible  in  their  own  language.  By 
thts  means,  foolish  and  indiscreet  persons  were  deprived  of 
an  occasion  for  interpreting  the  Scriotures,  as  had  often 


REFORMATION   IN    SWEDEN.  135 

been  attempted  by  such,  in  monasteries  and  other  places. 
"  His  majesty  declared  that  we  were  shepherds,  and  obliga 
ted,  by  every  consideration,  through  learned  and  sufficient 
men,  to  feed  the  sheep  of  Christ  with  the  word  of  God ; 
and  that,  if  we  refused  to  take  upon  us  this  work,  he  could 
not  see  how  we  deserved  the  name  of  shepherds,  when  we 
not  only  did  not  feed  the  sheep,  but  grudged  them  pasture 
ground." 

These  reasons  of  the  king  are  enumerated  by  the  arch 
bishop,  in  his  letter  from  Stockholm,  dated  on  Trinity  Sun 
day,  June  4th,  1525,  to  the  bishops,  chapters,  and  some 
monasteries.  He  adds  that  he  could  have  no  objection,  but 
promised,  with  the  assistance  of  many  of  the  bishops,  to  fulfil 
the  wishes  of  the  king.  And  because  all  those  who  were 
called  shepherds,  were  obligated  to  this  work,  at  least  all  to 
whom  God  had  given  that  grace,  he  had,  after  consultation 
with  the  king,  apportioned  the  New  Testament  among  the 
chapters,  and  some  learned  men  in  the  convents.  He  had 
also,  by  the  king's  permission,  advised  them  all  immediately 
to  undertake  the  translation  of  the  parts  respectively  as 
signed  to  them.  As  soon  as  the  archbishop  returned  home 
from  Germany,  one  or  more  of  each  chapter  was  to  appear 
at  Upsala,  where  he  summoned  all  his  fellow-laborers  to 
meet,  on  the  10th  of  September  of  that  year,  so  that  each 
might  give,  in  presence  of  the  reBt,  an  account  of  his  work, 
and  according  to  their  combined  judgment,  a  complete 
translation  be  produced  and  approved. 

The  parts  were  so  distributed,  that  the  chapter  of  Upsala 
was  to  translate  the  gospel  according  to  St.  Matthew,  and 
the  epistle  of  St.  Paul  to  the  Romans ;  of  Linkoping,  the 
gospel  of  Mark  and  both  the  epistles  to  the  Corinthians ;  of 
Skara,  the  gospel  of  St.  Luke  and  the  epistle  to  the  Gala- 
tians ;  of  Striingness,  the  gospel  of  St.  John  and  the  epistle 
to  the  Ephesians ;  of  Westeras,  the  acts  of  the  apostles  ;  of 
Wexio,  the  epistles  to  the  Philippians  and  the  Colossians ;  of 


136  HISTORY    OF   THE   ECCLESIASTICAL 

Abo,  the  epistles  to  the  Thessalonians  and  Timothy.  To 
the  vicar  of  the  Dominicans  and  his  brethren,  were  assigned 
the  epistles  to  Titus  and  the  Hebrews ;  to  the  minister  of 
the  Minorites  and  his  brethren,  the  epistles  of  Jude  and 
James ;  to  the  brethren  of  Wadsten,  the  epistles  of  Peter 
and  John  ;  and  to  the  prior  of  the  Carthusians  and  his 
brethren,  the  book  of  the  Revelations. 

We  know  no  other  country,  where,  at  this  time,  the 
church  had  a  proposal  so  high  and  consequential,  as  that 
now  made  by  the  king  to  the  church  of  Sweden.  What 
would  have  been  the  future  of  the  Swedish  church ;  what 
of  our  fatherland;  had  the  spiritual  estate,  with  united 
hearts  and  hands,  arisen  to  accomplish  the  momentous  un 
dertaking,  with  one  voice,  to  speak  in  our  tongue,  the  won 
derful  works  of  God  ?  There  had  not  been  an  immediate 
separation  from  the  Roman  church.  There  had  been  a  col 
lision  and  a  struggle,  whose  consequences  we  may  not  ven 
ture  to  estimate. 

It  was  not  the  illegality  in  itself  of  the  measure,  but  his 
opinion  of  its  utility,  which  again  called  out  bishop  Brask 
in  opposition.  The  archbishop  was  now  out  of  the  way  of 
his  reproaches,  and  he  turned  to  Dr.  Galle  of  Upsala.  He 
was  in  the  highest  degree  astonished,  that  the  archbishop, 
without  consultation  with  the  heads  of  the  church  and  its 
chapters,  should  "enter  into  this  labyrinth."  So  many 
translations  into  the  mother-tongue,  had  but  bred  so  many 
heresies.  This  it  was  which  led  to  the  revolt  from  the 
church  of  the  Beguines.  and  the  poor  men  of  Lyons.  The 
Scriptures  might  be  interpreted,  or  explained,  in  a  fourfold 
manner.  They  could  not,  therefore,  without  much  danger 
to  souls,  be  explained  in  a  literal  sense.  The  letter  killeth, 
but  the  spirit  giveth  life.  Such  a  translation  could  not 
benefit  laymen  who  were  not  book  learned,  for  they  could 
not  then  read  it ;  while  among  those  acquainted  with  books, 
both  of  the  clergy  and  laity,  there  were  few  who  did  not  un 
derstand  the  nakod  text,  at  this  time,  as  well  as  hitherto, 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  137 

though  it  was  now  maintained  otherwise,  in  scorn  of  the 
clergy.  If  the  translation  now  proposed  were  rejected,  as 
containing  Lutheran  heresy ;  or,  if  any  new  errors  were 
found  in  it,  or  arose  from  it,  the  Swedish  church  would  thus 
have  the  appearance  of  favoring  heresy."  He  had  seen  the 
gospels  for  the  year,  translated  into  Danish.  These  which, 
from  similarity  of  the  language,  might  easily  be  understood, 
could  be  easily  made  accessible  by  the  facilities  of  the  press, 
and  thus,  all  that  was  needed,  be  gained  without  danger  to 
the  Swedish  church.  He  designed,  moreover,  to  look  after 
the  translation-  of  doctor  Matthias. 

The  meeting  appointed  did  not  take  place  till  September, 

1525,  probably  because  John  Magnus  did  not,  till  then,  re 
turn  from  Lybeck.     At  Wadsten,  on  Sunday,  January  11, 

1526,  when  most  of  the  bishops  were  present,  there  was  a 
hasty  decision  made  of  the  case.     The  chapter  of  Linkoping 
was  even  ready  with  its  contribution  ;  and  on  January  23dr 
master  Erik,  cantor  of  the  chapter,  was  sent  to  Upsala. 
"  Many,"   writes  bishop   Brask  to  the  archbishop,  "  were 
of  one  mind,  that  delay  in  the  work  would  be  safest,  and  he 
should  think  so,  were  it  not  for  the  carefulness  of  the  trans 
lator  (probably  the  aforesaid  master  Erik)  and  the  maturity 
of  preparation  of  the  theological  faculty  at  Upsala,  to  whom 
he  was  willing  to  commit  all.     He  hoped  the  case  would  be 
directed  by  the  Holy  Ghost." 

Here  all  traces  of  the  progress  and  termination  of  tne 
work  are  lost.  Whether  it  was  thought  best  to  put  oif  the 
work,  or  whether  there  could  not  be  had  an  agreement  in  a 
common  translation,  or  whether  the  workmen  were  not 
ready  "\\  ith  their  parts,  is  unknown  to  us.  There  soon  after 
occurred  hinderances  to  the  carrying  on  of  the  work.  In  the 
year  152 G,  there  reached  Stockholm,  a  translation  of  the 
New  Testament,  composed  in  the  spirit  of  protestantism. 

It  is  singular,  that  in  regard  to  a  work  of  this  compass 
and  importance,  there  should  be  wanting  an  accurate 


138  HISTORY    OP   THE   ECCLESIASTICAL 

account  of  its  authors.  That  their  names  have  not 
come  down  to  us,  is  the  less  surprising,  as  the  evident  object 
is,  to  appear  unconnected  with  the  party  strifes  respecting 
the  doctrine  and  constitution  of  the  church,  while  the  names 
of  the  translators  would  have  stamped  it  as  a  party  produc 
tion.  But  during  and  after  the  times  when  it  came  out, 
general  opinion  has  not  fixed  upon  its  authors.  No  con 
temporaneous  witnesses  are  to  be  found ;  and  later  ones  are 
divided  in  attributing  this  undertaking  to  Laurentius  An- 
dreae,  or  Olaus  Petri,  or  both ;  some  giving  reasons  in  favor 
of  one  or  other  of  these  men,  probably  no  better  founded, 
than  because  at  this  time,  no  other  than  these  two  can  be 
found,  from  whom  to  expect  such  a  work.  That  with 
these  men,  the  sponsors  of  the  new  direction  things  were 
taking,  the  translation  had  its  origin,  there  is  no  reason  to 
doubt.  But  when  we,  with  most  authors,  are  disposed  to 
assume  that  Laurentius  Andreas  was  its  genuine  author,  we 
acknowledge  that  we  have  no  other  reason  for  this  assump 
tion  than  that  the  translation  betrays  a  consistency  and 
maturity,  which,  in  a  work  of  this  sort,  is  not  to  be  expected 
from  one  of  Olof's  age.  We  regard  it,  however,  as  highly 
probable,  that  in  this  matter  the  two  friends  consulted 
together,  and  worked  in  concert. 

What  relation  this  enterprise  had  to  the  challenge  made 
to  the  heads  of  the  church,  to  provide  a  translation,  cannot 
be  certified  on  historic  testimony.  But,  when  the  provision 
was  made  by  the  same  men,  who,  in  matters  that  concerned 
the  church,  were  the  king's  counsellors  and  prompters,  the 
work  may  be  considered  as  the  result  of  that  challenge,  and 
as  itself  a  challenge  to  rivalry.  Either  in  the  year  1526, 
the  work  had  been  already  put  to  press,  or  master  Lars, 
who,  as  a  prelate,  was  included  in  the  king's  challenge  to 
the  church,  took,  himself,  the  work  in  hand.  The  proposi 
tion  made  the  church,  to  take  in  hand,  by  her  principal 
men,  this  great  work  of  the  church,  was  in  keeping  with  the 


REFORMATION    IX    SWEDEN.  139 

king's  usual  course,  not  to  pass  by  these  men  in  any  thing, 
in  which  their  co-operation  could  be  reasonably  counted  on. 
Their  rejection  was  a  judgment  of  the  Roman  church  upon 
itself. 

The  prompt  accomplishment  of  the  task  was,  for  the 
friends  of  the  new  order  of  things,  much  easier  than  for 
those  of  Home.  These  latter  were  embarrassed  by  doubts, 
not  only  whether  the  work  should  be  taken  in  hand,  but 
how.  They,  on  the  other  hand,  who  had  no  need  to  con 
form  their  opinions  and  modes  of  expression  to  an  abstruse 
and  difficult  system  of  theology,  could,  with  surer  step, 
greater  confidence,  and  brisker  progress,  carry  the  work  for 
ward. 

Lars,  or  whoever  was  the  translator,  had  also  in  Luthei 
a  predecessor  and  leader,  in  whom  he  could  place  depend 
ence.  This  relation  to  Luther's  versions  was  not  mentioned, 
as,  in  all  public  measures,  steps,  and  proclamations,  which 
related  to  the  reform  of  the  church  in  king  Gustavus'  time, 
the  words  Luther  and  Lutherans  were  avoided.  But  the 
Swedish  translator  was  far  from  being  a  slavish  follower. 
He  differs  in  many  places,  omits  the  disputed  word  a//,  which 
Luther  inserts,  Rom.  iii.  28,  and  inserts  1  John,  v.  7,  which 
Luther  leaves  out,  and  these  are  but  examples.  He  declares 
that  he  had  consulted  many  books  and  many  treatises  of 
learned  men.  The  depreciation  of  the  epistle  of  St.  James, 
which  he  allowed  to  be  preceded  by  Luther's  condemnatoiy 
preface,  he  regarded  in  conformity  with  Luther's  judgment. 
He  even  introduced,  though  with  caution  and  some  alter 
ations,  those  marginal  notes,  partly  to  make  clear  the 
protestant  sense,  and  partly  to  explain  the  words  which  are 
to  be  found  in  Luther's  translation. 

In  the  preface,  the  translator  states  that  he  undertook 
this  work  for  poor  simple  priests,  who  knew  but  little  Latin, 
and  were  unskilled  in  the  Scriptures,  and  that  other  Chris 
tian  men  who  could  read  might  have  at  least  the  text,  as 


140  HISTORY    OF    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

given  by  the  evangelists  and  apostles.  It  had  been  required, 
says  this  preface,  that  priests  should  read  Latin ;  why  then 
does  Paul,  enumerating  the  qualifications  of  priests,  1  Tim. 
iii.,  not  reckon  among  them  the  knowledge  of  Latin?  As 
in  centuries  gone  by,  among  various  peoples  of  Christendom, 
missionaries  established  their  work  of  conversion  by  a  trans 
lation  of  the  Bible,  for  which  purpose  they  were  obliged  to 
construct  an  alphabet,  so  now,  in  Sweden,  the  deliverance 
from  the  yoke  of  a  foreign  church,  dates  its  commencement 
from  a  translation  of  the  New  Testament.  This  was  the 
first  work  published  at  the  time  of  the  breaking  up  of  prin 
ciples  ;  and  it  was  considered  as  a  work  for  the  future  of  the 
church,  the  first-born  and  foundation  of  the  new  order.  But 
it  was  also  destined  to  begin  the  deliverance  of  the  Swedish 
language  from  a  foreign  domination  by  which  it  was  op 
pressed  at  the  close  of  the  middle  ages.  What  struggles 
were  required  for  this  object,  appears  from  a  catalogue  of 
words,  with  which  the  translator  thought  it  necessary  to 
preface  his  work.  The  writings  of  the  reformers  that  after 
ward  came  out,  and  the  translation  of  the  whole  Bible, 
fifteen  years  later,  well  nigh  completed  this  deliverance. 

The  cause  of  Swedish  progress  and  freedom,  has,  therefore, 
for  all  time,  been  married  to  the  truths  of  protestantism. 

Nearly  at  the  same  time  with  the  New  Testament,  there 
was  made  a  translation  into  Swedish,  of  the  Psalter,  and 
some  small  portions  of  the  Old  Testament ;  but  these  were 
never  printed. 

A  Swedish  translation  of  the  New  Testament,  in  the 
spirit  of  Rome,  was  made  "  with  learning  and  fidelity,"  by 
a  canon  of  Linkoping,  Petrus  Benedict!,  who  had  there  cor 
rected  (as  he  said)  more  than  a  thousand  places,  falsified  in 
the  translation  of  152G.  His  work,  to  which  he  was 
prompted  by  John  Magnus,  and  in  which  he  made  use  of 
the  writings  of  the  learned  men  of  his  church,  was  never 
printed ;  and  it  is  probable  has  not  been  preserved.  It  was 


REFORMATION   IN    SWEDEN.  141 

written  at  a  somewhat  later  period,  and  not  on  Swedish 
ground.  Its  author,  Petrus,  was  staying  this  year,  before 
1527,  at  Home,  and  probably  never  returned  to  his  native 
country,  which  was  soon  abandoned  by  his  friends  and 
patrons,  John  Magnus  and  Brask,  but  employed  himself 
in  this  occupation,  during  his  voluntary  expatriation,  with 
hope  of  better  days.  The  expatriated  archbishop,  whom  he 
served  as  chaplain,  could  not,  from  want  of  funds,  procure 
the  translation  to  be  printed. 

Over  the  popish  church  hovered  a  threatening  cloud.  The 
king  became,  as  the  enemies  of  the  Reformation  said,  more 
and  more  a  captive  to  those  who  were  about  him,  and 
favored  the  new  principles.  Much  was  hoped  from  a  change 
of  counsellors ;  but  still  Laurentius  Andrese  stood,  as  he  had 
done  ten  years  before,  the  foremost  man  in  his  confidence, 
and  the  attempts  at  his  removal,  had  only  resulted,  as  one 
might  say,  in  passing  from  the  fire-pan  into  the  fire.  The 
seditions  in  the  kingdom,  a  fruit  of  the  anxiety  which 
agitated  all  minds,  and  loosened  the  ties  of  obedience,  con 
duced  to  give  the  king  a  mistrust  of  the  church.  The  dis 
satisfaction  of  the  clergy  sought  aid  in  the  credulity  of  the 
people,  and  the  consequence  was,  that  the  strong  hand, 
which  in  the  ferment  of  men's  minds  held  the  commonalty 
in  check,  was  laid  heavily  also  on  the  men  of  the  church, 
who  sometimes  were,  and  more  often  were  suspected  of 
being,  instigators  of  rebellion. 

Already,  in  1523,  had  the  newly-elected  bishop  of  Wes- 
teras,  Per  Sunnanvader,  begun  to  write  seditious  letters ; 
tempted  by  his  love  for  the  house  of  Sturc,  and  discontent 
with  the  taxes  laid  on  the  church,  but  perhaps  still  more 
seduced  by  his  naturally  adventurous  spirit.  The  king, 
hereupon,  did  no  more  than  recall  his  approbation  of  the 
election  of  Per  to  the  see  of  Westeras,  and  deprive  Knut, 
the  former  chancellor  and  designed  archbishop,  of  all  hope 
of  the  metropolitan  dignity,  as  being  proved  guilty  of  the 


142  HISTORY   OF   THE   ECCLESIASTICAL 

like  seditious  practices.  These  men  retired  to  Dalecarlia, 
where,  together  with  the  brother  of  the  chapter,  master 
Jacob,  who  was  also  pastor  of  Mora,  they  fomented  rebel 
lion.  It  was  among  the  complaints  made,  that  the  king 
broke  his  oath  of  coronation,  because  he  imposed  in  an  un 
christian  manner  taxes  upon  churches,  monasteries,  priests 
and  monks ;  took  the  valuables  which  were  given  and  con 
secrated  to  the  service  of  God,  the  offering  to  the  shrines  of 
saints  and  holy  women,  and  scattered  them  uselessly  over 
the  kingdom,  took  all  the  Swedish  money  from  the  churches, 
and  in  its  place  substituted  valueless  money,  called  kleppings, 
which  he  himself  rejected,  and  appropriated  the  church's 
titLes,  which  no  Christian  prince  before  him  had  done.  For 
these,  his  cruel  acts,  would  the  wrath  and  vengeance  of  God, 
as  natural  results,  come  upon  the  kingdom. 

"Wlien,  afterward,  Per  Sunnanvader  and  Knut  or  Canute, 
Hed  to  the  archbishop  of  Trondhem,  they  were  claimed,  on 
the  ground  of  the  treaty  of  Malino  with  the  Swedish  govern 
ment.  After  a  long  negotiation  and  assurance,  given  by 
king  Gustavus,  "that  they  should  be  tried  by  proper  judges, 
and  suffer  and  undergo  what  justice  required,"  master  Knut 
was  sent  home,  in  1526,  and  tried,  not  before  a  spiritual 
tribunal,  but  before  senators  of  the  kingdom.  On  the  trial 
wit  the  bishop  of  Linkoping,  the  bishops  elect  of  Upsala, 
Skara  and  Striingness,  with  the  provost,  Goran  Koos,  of 
Upsala;  and  it  cannot  be  supposed  that  these,  had  they 
found  illegality  in  the  conduct  of  the  suit,  would  have  failed 
to  pass  their  comments.  Even  Brask  admits  that  there  were 
grave  offences  committed,  yet  he  hoped  in  the  possibility  of 
an  accommodation.  To  the  intercession  of  the  court  the 
king  answered,  that  such  cases  were  not  so  readily  to  be 
pardoned. 

Knut  was  condemned,  on  August  9,  1526.  Soon  after, 
Per  Sunnanvader  was  brought  home  a  prisoner  from  Nor 
way.  Both  were  carried  in  an  ignominious  manner  around 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  143 

the  gates  of  Stockholm,  clothed  in  tattered  habiliments,  Per 
with  a  crown  of  straw,  Knut  with  a  mitre  of  birch  bark  on 
his  head.  Per  was  condemned  at  Upsala,  in  the  large  hall 
of  the  archiepiscopal  close,  by  a  court,  consisting  of  many 
temporal  nobles,  besides  the  bishop  of  Westeras,  the  elect  of 
Striingness,  and  the  chapter  of  Upsala,  headed  by  its  provost, 
Goran  Thuresson.  The  spiritual  nobles  protested  afterward 
against  the  competency  of  this  court.  It  was  said  that 
churchmen  had  approved  a  sentence  upon  spiritual  persons, 
passed  by  the  senators  of  the  kingdom,  but  not  where  lay 
men  participated  without  the  senate.  The  protest  had  no 
effect.  Per  was  executed  at  Upsala,  during  the  time  of  its 
fair,  on  February  18th,  and  Knut  at  Stockholm,  on  the  21st 
of  the  same  month,  1527.  The  severity  of  the  punishment, 
and  its  public  ignominy,  were  before  unheard  of,  but  acted 
as  a  significant  warning  to  those  of  the  spiritual  estates. 
The  temporal  power  would  no  more  regard  consecration  to 
a  holy  office  when  crimes  were  to  be  punished.  Among 
the  participators  in  the  seditious  plots,  were  Robert,  vicar 
of  the  Dominicans,  a  Norwegian,  prior  of  the  convent  at 
Westeras,  and  many  monks  of  that  city,  among  whom, 
besides  the  prior,  were  many  of  the  brethren  of  the  convent, 
also  Norwegians.  The  monks  had  been  sent  from  thence  to 
Dalecarlia,  to  foment  dissatisfaction.  King  Gustavus  de 
posed  Robert,  put  in  his  place  Martin  Skytte,  as  vicar 
general,  and  one  Nils  Andrese,  as  prior  of  Westeras ;  and 
ordered  Robert  and  other  foreigners  in  the  Dominican  con 
vent,  to  leave  the  country  before  the  feast  of  St.  John  the 
Baptist.  When  the  king  heard  that  great  disorder  existed 
in  the  Franciscan  monastery  of  Arboga,  he  sent  there  one 
of  his  attendants,  Lars  Sommar,  a  lawyer,  and  directed  him, 
in  concert  with  the  bugomaster  and  council  of  the  town,  to 
nominate  a  guardian  for  the  monastery,  and  take  an  invent 
ory  of  its  jewels  and  wealth, 

The  king  showed  an  arbitrariness,  which  spared  neither 


14-i  HISTORY    OF   THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

the  spiritual  persons,  nor  the  freedom  of  spiritual  establish 
ments,  whenever  they  stood  in  the  way  of  the  freedom  and 
security  of  the  land.  Nor  did  he  refuse,  though  with 
caution,  not  violently  to  interfere  with  the  administration 
of  the  church,  to  afford  his  protection  whenever  solicited  by 
individuals.  The  daughter  of  a  citizen  of  Wadsten,  whose 
father,  against  her  wishes,  had  placed  her  in  a  convent,  had, 
by  a  private  message,  begged  the  king's  protection,  as  he 
stopped  in  1524  in  that  city.  He  wrote  to  the  bishop, 
that  he  ought  not  to  devote  her,  and  if  he  did  it  against  her 
will,  it  appeared  to  the  king  irrational  and  deserving  of  pun 
ishment  by  him  and  every  good  man.  What  respect  the 
bishop  paid  the  king's  remonstrance  and  recommendation  is 
not  known.  With  great  firmness  the  king,  three  years 
later,  treated  the  notorious  case  of  Olof  Tyste.  This  man 
had  been  affianced  to  a  girl,  who  soon  after  was  consecrated 
a  nun  by  bishop  Brask,  "  not  only,"  as  the  king  says  to  him, 
"against  the  law  of  God,  but  also,  as  ice  are  instructed, 
against  what  ye  call  the  law  of  the  church."  She  was 
taken  by  her  lover  from  the  convent,  whereupon  the  bishop 
excommunicated  them.  Olof  Tyste  applied  himself  to  the 
king,  who  expressed  his  surprise  that  the  bishop  did  not 
better  acquaint  himself  with  the  case  before  making  her  a 
nun,  declared  the  excommunication  unrighteous,  and  prayed 
the  bishop  to  remove  it,  at  least  till  more  of  the  church's 
prelates  had  met  together,  and  examined  into  this  and  other 
matters. 

Many  tenants  of  convents  already  sought  occasion  to  leave 
them.  The  new  principles  had  loosened  the  bond  of  mon 
astic  discipline,  when  they  declared  life-long  vows  to  be  of 
no  force,  and  that  the  service  of  God  could  be  more  worthily 
performed,  and  in  a  manner  more  acceptable  to  him,  by  an 
active  attention  to  duties  without  a  separation  from  the 
world.  The  monks,  especially,  were  exhorted  and  stirred 
up  to  labor  for  the  propagation  of  the  gospel ;  this  was  the 


REFORMATION   IN    SWEDEN.  145 

highest  and  most  important,  before  which  all  other  vows 
ought  to  give  way.  This  consideration  determined  many, 
for  whom  the  cells  of  a  cloister  had  become  too  cramped. 
As  early  as  1524,  consultations  were  held  at  the  monastery 
of  "Wadsten,  with  regard  to  the  conversion  of  the  Lapps  and 
others.  Brask  would  have  checked  their  zeal,  by  the  remark, 
that  it  was  of  more  moment  to  aim  at  the  conversion  of 
those  belonging  to  their  own  order  who  had  fallen  away. 
The  king  himself  participated  in  the  good  work.  In  1525, 
he  gave  the  charge  to  one  of  the  brethren  of  "Wadsten,  "  as 
king's  commissioner,  to  bring  the  people  of  Lapland  to  the 
worship  of  God." 

In  the  following  spring  another  monk  of  Wadsten  took 
his  departure  for  Lapland,  "  with  the  king's  good  will  and 
leave,"  to  promote  the  faith  of  God,  and  if  it  should  prove 
advisable,  there  to  establish  a  school  "  for  the  children  of 
the  Laplanders,  and  other  good  men  throughout  the  land.'* 
He  was  furnished,  with  a  passport  from  the  king.  At  the 
close  of  15 2 G,  the  king's  protection  and  favor  were  granted 
a  Franciscan  monk  of  Arboga,  who,  for  reasons  which  he 
was  willing  to  lay  before  such  men  as  the  king  might  ap 
point,  desired  to  renounce  his  cloister  and  his  order. 

From  king  Gustavus'  own  words,  rather  than  from  known 
records,  we  have  the  means  of  ascertaining  the  methods  taken 
to  prevent  gifts  and  legacies  to  spiritual  establishments.  At 
the  town-house  at  Stockholm,  the  king  made  "  a  long  dis* 
course,"  in  presence  of  the  council,  respecting  the  prebends 
and  monks  of  Stockholm ;  how  they  said  that  the  king 
wished  to  introduce  a  new  faith  into  the  land,  because  he 
wished  to  put  a  stop  to  their  covetousness,  that  they  should 
rio  longer  engross  to  themselves  so  much  wealth,  to  the  injury 
of  the  crown  and  nobility,  as  had  now  for  a  long  time  been 
done. 

This  form  of  expression,  then  uttered,  became,  two  years 
after,  the  law  of  the  kingdom.  But  before  that  time  action 

7 


146  HISTORY    OF    THE   ECCLESIASTICAL 

was  taken  by  the  king  in  the  suppression  of  the  monastery 
of  Mariefred  or  Gripsholm.  The  administrator,  Sten  Sture 
the  younger,  founded  it  with  certain  hereditary  property,  by 
consent  of  king  Gustavus'  father,  who,  through  his  mother, 
the  sister  of  Sture,  was  the  heir.  The  law  required,  that 
if  any  one,  for  the  benefit  of  his  soul,  wished  to  give  of 
hereditary  property  to  a  church  or  monastery,  the  gift  was 
binding  with,  consent  of  the  heir;  otherwise,  tithes  only 
could  be  given  of  such  kind  of  possessions.  But  Gustavus  I. 
declared  that  his  father  was  forced  to  seal  this  settlement ; 
was,  with  menaces  and  compulsion,  crowded  out  of  his  in 
heritance  and  rights,  and  moreover,  gave  his  consent,  on 
condition,  that  if  the  cloister,  for  any  reason,  should  not 
continue,  Gripsholm  was  to  return  to  the  right  heirs.  The 
king,  arbitrarily,  offered  the  monks  in  exchange  the  Cistercian 
convent  of  Juleta  or  Saba,  in  Sodermanland,  because  there 
was  in  it  a  small  number  and  very  few  brethren,  and  they 
could,  therefore,  there  very  well  be  fed,  agreeably  to  the 
course  of  life  to  which  they  were  accustomed.  The  reasons 
of  the  king's  dissatisfaction  are  no  further  known.  But  the 
Carthusians  did  not  find  it  advisable  to  accept  the  offer, 
because,  from  the  objections  the  Cistercians  would  raise, 
they  perceived  they  would  be  unable  to  obtain  undisturbed 
possession.  They  proposed  that  each  should  provide  for 
himself  among  his  friends,  or  accept  whatever  the  king  saw 
fit,  as  they  had  no  other  resource,  and  added  that  few  of 
them  remained  to  perform  masses  or  serve  God  in  any  other 
manner  for  their  maintenance  in  food  and  clothes.  Those 
who  withdrew  were  to  be  supplied  by  the  king  with  clothes 
and  money,  in  compensation  of  which,  he  was  to  retain 
certain  funds  of  the  convent  taken  in  pledge.  A  council 
of  the  kingdom  adjudged  the  convent  to  the  king,  at  the 
diet  of  Wadsten,  and  the  bishop  of  Striingness  witnessed 
the  deed  of  resignation  given  by  the  monks.  In  the  spring, 
the  convent  was  evacuated  by  the  monks,  and  afterward 


REFORMATION   IN    SWEDEN.  147 

their  butler,  Erik,  received  from  the  king  the  charge  of  its 
property.  He  received,  as  soon  as  the  agreement  with  the 
Carthusians  was  closed,  an  order  to  transmit  to  Stockholm 
the  chest  of  silver  which  stood  there  in  custody,  yet  so 
secretly,  that  the  brothers  were  to  know  nothing  of  it,  and 
he  was  to  restore  to  the  owners  the  evidences  of  pledge  which 
were  left  with  the  monastery,  and  take  a  sum  of  money  for 
such  restored  evidences.  The  property  of  Sten  Sture  and 
his  wife  was  removed  from  Gripsholm  to  the  neighboring 
church  of  Kjernbo  in  Sodermanland,  and  finally  from  thence, 
by  duke  Charles,  in  king  John  HI.'s  time,  to  the  cathedral 
of  Striingness. 

That  Gustavus,  in  this  case,  went  beyond  strict  justice 
will  not  be  denied;  and  his  enemies  saw  a  judgment  from 
on  high,  in  the  events  which  made  this  place  of  Gripsholm  a 
mournful  witness  of  the  fraternal  hatred  of  his  sons. 

The  king  had,  of  old,  the  right,  on  the  occurrence  of  a 
vacancy  among  the  prelates  of  the  chapter,  to  present  to  the 
bishop  the  man  whom  he  wished  to  promote.  This  right 
was  sometimes  exercised  by  Gustavus,  at  this  period,  to  pay 
the  incomes  of  those  who  were  the  officers  of  his  chancery. 
Thus  the  income  of  the  dean  of  Linkoping  was  received  by 
the  king's  clerk,  John,  until  it  was  in  1526  restored  to  its 
former  possessor,  the  elect  of  Abo,  in  consideration  of  his 
services  to  the  kingdom. 

The  strength  which  the  new  principles  acquired  by  their 
continued  progress,  and  the  king's  manifest  inclination  to 
ward  them,  at  last  waked  John  Magnus  from  the  slumber 
into  which,  as  is  common  to  weak  minds,  he  had  been  lulled, 
by  the  hope  that  time  would  cure  the  evil,  and  give  his 
irresolution  the  color  of  judicious  calculation.  He  had,  the 
previous  year,  resolved  upon  a  visitation  of  his  diocese, 
assisted  in  the  work,  which  could  only  be  performed  by  a 
consecrated  bishop,  by  one  Vincentius,  a  Franciscan  monk, 
consecrated  to  the  see.  of  Gada,  as  titular  bishop.  But  he, 


148  HISTORY    OF    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

especially  displayed  his  state,  when,  in  the  winter  of 
1525-'6,  he  travelled  with  a  train  of  two  hundred  person?, 
and  had  even  some  nobles  in  his  service.  Beside  the  con 
secration  of  churches  and  their  furniture,  he  was  now  hot 
against  the  Lutheran  heresy,  and  exacted,  with  severity,  fines 
from  the  clergy  for  their  concubines  and  bastards,  a  severity 
which  was  remarked  upon  by  the  other  bishops  of  the  king 
dom.  From  Ljusdal,  in  Helsingland,  John  wrote,  on  Feb 
ruary  20,  1526,  to  the  archbishop,  Olof  Engelbrektsson,  of 
Tronhem  in  Norway.  Pie  informs  him  that,  according  to 
what  he  had  before  told  him,  he  designed  to  be  in  Jemtland 
in  the  month  of  March,  and  begs  an  interview  there  with 
Olof,  in  order  to  renew  their  old  acquaintance,  and  "  consult 
together  on  the  affairs  of  the  northern  kingdoms  and  the 
Christian  churches." 

Whether  the  two  bishops  really  met,  is  unknown  to  us. 
But  the  knowledge  of  John's  connection  with  the  man, 
who,  by  his  protection  of  Per  Sunnanvader  and  his  ac 
complices,  lay  under  suspicion  of  the  king,  increased  the 
monarch's  dissatisfaction  at  the  archbishop's  conduct  during 
his  visitation.  He  summoned  him  to  return  home,  and 
asked  if  Christ  commanded  his  disciples  to  appear  with 
such  pomp  to  the  world,  or  concerned  himself  with  such 
vanities. 

The  king's  more  enlighted  principles  were  shocked  at  such 
abuses,  which  gave  the  more  scandal,  as  proceeding  from 
the  heads  of  the  church.  And  it  must  have  particularly 
irritated  him,  that  the  archbishop  warned  the  people  stren 
uously  against  the  Lutheran  doctrines,  and  sowed  the  seeds 
of  hatred  to  it  among  them.  Neither  for  John  himself, 
after  he  manifested  his  dislike  of  the  men  that  promoted  the 
principles  of  reform,  nor  for  his  office,  as  it  hitherto  existed, 
have  we  further  room  in  the  history  of  that  ecclesiastical 
j  change  for  the  better,  which  was  ripened  in  1526,  by  king 
G-ustavus  and  his  chancellor. 


REFORMATION   IN    SWEDEN.  149 

In  the  spring  of  1526,  the  plans  for  this  object  were  dis 
closed,  not  merely  in  those  encroachments  upon  the  priv 
ileges  of  the  church,  to  which  we  have  before  referred,  but 
in  the  effort  to  establish  more  comprehensive  principles  and 
a  change,  founded  on  the  consent  and  approbation  of  the 
people. 

The  king  had  summoned  the  peasantry  of  Upland  to 
Upsala,  on  May  18th,  being  the  feast  of  St.  Erik.  He  came 
there  himself  at  the  head  of  an  army  of  two  thousand  horse 
men,  and  no  inconsiderable  number  of  foot  soldiers.  On  the 
heights  of  old  Upsala,  he  addressed,  or,  as  it  is  said,  held  con 
ference  with  the  peasantry,  on  the  true  faith  and  worship 
of  God  and  on  state  affairs.  At  his  side,  upon  horseback, 
was  his  chancellor,  Laurentius  Andrece.  The  archbishop 
was  not  present.  The  king  complained,  among  other  things, 
that  here  in  the  kingdom  were  too  many  lazy  and  unprofit 
able  priests,  and  convents  full  crammed  with  monks,  all  of 
whom  were  nothing  but  vermin,  who  consumed  the  best 
fruits  of  the  land.  He  asked,  therefore,  the  peasantiy  if 
they  did  not  approve  his  making  an  example  of  such. 
Those  who  were  learned  and  competent  to  preach  he  would 
support  in  a  creditable  manner.  But  the  other  unprofitable 
priests  might  well  be  obliged  to  feed  themselves  by  the  sweat 
of  their  brows,  as  God  had  commanded.  In  their  stead  he 
would  put  schoolmasters  and  scholars,  who  would  educate 
and  foster  the  youth  in  Christian  learning  and  good  habits, 
or  poor,  sick,  halt,  blind,  and  lame  men,  who  would  thus 
have  necessary  food  and  subsistence.  The  peasantry  shouted, 
and  replied,  that  they  would  keep  their  monks  and  not  have 
them  turned  out,  even  if  they  should  have  to  feed  and  sup 
port  them.  They  then  began  to  complain  that  it- was  the 
intention  to  prohibit  the  Latin  masses  and  other  parts  of  the 
old  faith.  The  sin  of  all  these  new  things  was  to  be  at 
tributed  to  the  chancellor.  He  induced  the  king  to  disturb 
the  privileges  of  the  church.  They  demanded,  with  in- 


150  HISTORY    OF   THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

creased  arrogance  and  fury,  the  king's  leave  to  drive  the 
chancellor  out  of  the  city.  "  Do  ye  know  him  ?"  asked  the 
king  smiling.  "  We  know  him  not,"  replied  the  peasants, 
"  but  if  we  had  him  here  upon  the  ground,  we  should  cer 
tainly  learn  to  know  him."  Laurentius  Andreas  being 
present,  was  an  ear-witness  of  these  expressions. 

This  parley  shows,  that  as  yet  the  people  were  not  ripe 
•for  any  change  in  the  church,  although  in  Upland  the 
preaching  of  the  gospel,  taken  in  the  wider  sense,  was  more 
diffused  and  unimpeded  than  in  the  southern  parts  of  the 
kingdom.  It  also  appeared  how  general  was  the  impression 
that  Laurentius  Andreas  was  the  man  who  influenced  the 
king  to  principles  and  acts  opposed  to  the  old  discipline.* 

This  transaction,  with  the  king's  open  declarations,  and 
his  attempt  to  win  the  peasantry  to  a  reform  in  the  church, 
awakened  strong  solicitude.  "  We  have  no  remarkable  tid 
ings  from  Upland,"  writes  bishop  Brask,  on  the  16th  of 
July,  to  Thure  Jonsson,  "  except  the  conference  at  .the 
feast  of  St.  Erik,  of  which  every  one  has  enough  to  say. 
May  God  dispose  all  things  for  the  best !" 

King  Gustavus's  disappointment  at  the  result  of  the  at 
tempt  on  the  peasantry,  vented  itself  in  his  treatment  of  the 
archbishop  elect  and  the  chapter  of  Upsala.  On  his  return 
to  the  city,  from  the  parley  at  old  Upsala,  he  nominated 
John  Magnus  a  mock  earl,  and  placed  on  his  head  a  gar 
land  of  flowers,  which  he  wore  on  his  ride  home.  This  is 
thought  to  have  been  done  to  depreciate  the  archbishop  in 
the  eyes  of  the  people.  But  it  is  doubtful  whether  it  is  not 
merely  the  report  of  later  times.  John  himself  does  not 


*  On  a  certain  occasion,  the  year  after  these  events,  the  peasants  peti 
tioned  the  king  for  the  Latin  mass.  He  called  his  chaplains  and  told  them 
to  curse  the  people  in  Latin.  He  then  bade  the  people  answer  for  them 
selves.  They  replied:  "We  don't  understand  what  is  said  ;  how  then  can 
we  answer?"  The  king  replied  :  "What  do  you  want  then  with  Latin  masses. 
Ye  don't  understand  them." 


REFORMATION   IN    SWEDEN.  151 

mention  such  an  act  of  degradation,  though,  if  it  were  so, 
he  surely  would  not  have  forborne  to  consider  it  a  part  of 
the  martyrdom  which  his  whole  life  appears  to  have  been, 
from  the  time  he  was  elected  to  the  crosier  of  Upsala. 

At  Whitsuntide  (May  20th),  he  is  represented  as  having 
undergone  a  humiliation.  John  was  desirous,  on  this  oc 
casion,  to  exhibit  the  dignity  and  riches  of  his  office.  The 
king  was  displeased,  both  with  the  sumptuousness  and  ex 
travagance  of  the  entertainment,  which  himself  could  not 
have  provided  "  in  half  a  year,"  and  at  the  haughtiness 
with  which  his  host,  seated  on  one  of  the  two  elevated  dais, 
turned  to  the  king,  seated  on  the  other,  and  said,  "Our 
grace  drinks  to  your  grace."  The  king  answered,  "  Our 
grace  and  your  grace  have  not  room  under  the  same  roof," 
and  with  these  words  he  left  the  table.  When,  on  the  same 
visit  to  Upsala,  Gustavus  was  present  with  the  chapter,  he 
asked  doctor  Galle,  whence  the  church  derived  her  privileges 
and  freedom  ?  Galle  answered,  that  the  holy  church  had 
them  from  Christian  emperors,  kings,  and  princes;  nobles 
and  commoners  had  also  given  goods  and  property  to 
churches  and  monasteries  for  the  support  of  persons  who 
should  attend  on  the  worship  of  God.  These  gifts,  the  tem 
poral  sovereigns  had  made  sure,  by  their  letters  of  donation, 
so  that  the  grants  might  be  inviolable  and  eternal.  The 
king  further  inquired,  whether  kings  and  princes  might  not, 
in  the  chances  of  time,  recall  these  privileges,  whenever  in 
considerately  given,  being  deceived  by  the  preaching  of 
monks  and  priests,  and  the  idea  of  souls  being  delivered  out 
of  purgatory,  which  had  no  authority  from  Holy  Scripture  ? 
To  this,  doctor  Galle  made  no  answer.  Even  the  arch 
bishop,  to  whom  the  king  put  the  same  question,  remained 
mute,  because  he  marked  the  king's  anger  rising.  But  the 
provost  Goran  Thuresson  Roos,  began  with  zeal  to  defend 
these  privileges.  What  princes  had  once  granted  and  as 
sured  to  the  benefit  of  the  church,  their  successors  could  not 


152  HISTORY    OF   THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

recall,  without  God's  highest  displeasure  and  everlasting 
condemnation.  Finally  the  king  bade  him  corroborate  his 
assertion  by  proof  from  holy  writ,  and  he  might  then  enjoy 
it  for  himself;  he  denied  not  that  they  who  industriously 
wrought  in  the  church,  to  promote  the  honor  of  God,  should 
have  sufficient  support,  but  the  others,  "  laay  bellies,"  who 
could  do  nothing  but  unprofitable  bawling  in  churches  and 
convents,  were  deserving  of  nothing.  When  it  came  to 
proof  from  Scripture,  even  the  provost  was  silent. 

John  Magnus,  who  began  to  take  a  more  independent  po 
sition  in  regard  to  the  king,  is  suspected  of  having  been  at 
work  for  the  preservation  of  his  church,  by  secret  machina 
tions.  There  were  reasons  for  believing  that  he  sought  to 
form  foreign  alliances,  to  the  injury  of  the  king  and  king 
dom.  He  was  therefore  summoned  to  Stockholm,  and  there 
placed  in  custody,  in  the  convent  of  grey  monks.  He  was 
soon,  however,  set  at  liberty,  and  left  the  kingdom  forever, 
in  October  of  the  same  year.  Different  reasons  are  assigned 
for  his  departure.  Either,  as  is  said  by  John  himself,  after 
the  resolution  to  put  him  to  death  was  abandoned,  the  king 
banished  him  ;  or  he  was  employed  in  a  commission  to  ask 
for  the  hand  of  Hedvig,  the  Polish  princess,  though  the  king 
afterward  refused  his  assent  to  the  negotiations  of  John  ; 
or  he  feigned  some  public  commission  as  a  pretext  for  leav 
ing  the  country,  and  of  his  own  accord  made  this  overture 
in  Poland.  That  John  desired  now  to  leave  Sweden,  his 
subsequent  conduct  proves  ;  that  the  king  was  pleased  with 
his  being  out  of  the  way,  seems  not  to  be  doubted.  But, 
under  what  specious  plea  he  left  his  post,  is  not  clear. 

He  set  out  on  his  journey  with  whatever  things  of  value 
and  books  he  could  collect  together.  His  vessel  was  lost  on 
the  rocky  isle  of  Stockholm  ;  upon  which,  after  he  had  re 
turned  a  while  to  the  city,  he  called  together  the-  priests  of 
Koslag  in  the  church  of  Soderby,  and  pleading  that  the  ship 
was  lost  on  which  he  had  embarked  with  his  effects,  on  a 


REFORMATION   IN    SWEDEN.  153 

foreign  mission ;  by  the  king's  order,  requested  of  them  a  sub 
sidy,  which,  on  his  return  should  be  repaid.  The  priests 
loaned  him  what  they  had  themselves,  or  could  borrow  from 
their  friends.  The  repayment  was  made  at  the  same  time 
that  the  borrower  returned. 

From  Dantzic,  where  he  stayed,  or  at  least  obtained  his 
chief  means  of  support,  he  endeavored  to  obtain  from  the 
pope  confirmation  and  consecration  for  himself  and  the 
other  bishops  elect.  God,  he  said,  displayed  his  wrath  to 
him  for  the  punishment  of  his  sins,  or  as  a  probation  to  the 
bishops  elect,  whom,  forsaken  by  God,  the  popes  of  Rome 
had  also  forsaken,  although  at  the  pope's  command  he  was 
brought  into  these  troubles.  He  would  take  his  oath,  and 
give  his  written  obligation,  to  pay  for  three  years  after  his 
consecration,  annates  to  the  Roman  see.  He  declared  his 
unwillingness  on  several  accounts  to  return  to  Sweden,  un 
less  invested  with  sufficient  authority  to  sustain  the  church, 
preferring  to  exchange  his  fatherland  for  banishment,  his 
episcopal  office  for  private  life.  To  the  pope  he  wrote  that 
he  could  not  venture  back  to  his  own  country,  without  hav 
ing  received  the  archiepiscopal  pallium.  He  solicited  the 
recommendation  of  bishop  Henrik,  of  Lubeck,  and  his  chap 
ter,  who,  as  well  as  the  burgomaster  and  council  of  that 
city,  (where  the  Lutherans  had  many  followers)  petitioned 
pope  Clement  VH.  in  his  behalf.  The  king  of  Poland,  its 
primate  and  bishops,  did  the  same  at  his  request. 

During  these  transactions,  tidings  reached  him  of  the 
diet  of  Westeras.  He  had  obtained  information  from  Swe 
den,  he  writes,  which  being  too  true,  showed  that  difficul 
ties  presented  themselves,  riot  less  than  if  Christianity  were 
anew  to  be  established. 

On  this'quarter  thus  died  all  hope  for  the  banished  man. 
The  star  of  hope,  for  even  his  return  to  Rome,  was  for  a 
moment  eclipsed. 

The  wonderful  counsel  of  God,  through  which  he  makes 
7* 


154  HISTORY    OF   THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

the  prudence  of  men  folly,  exhibits  itself  most  remarkably 
in  the  revolutions  of  human  affairs.  Such  revolutions  did 
the  years  1526  and  1527  witness,  in  the  events  occurring 
in  Southern  Europe,  which  extended  itself  also  to  Sweden. 
On  the  23d  of  March  of  the  former  year,  the  emperor 
Charles  V.  wrote  from  Spain  to  many  of  the  German  prin 
ces,  that  he  designed  to  solicit  the  pope  to  concert  with  him 
on  the  best  and  surest  means  of  rooting  out  the  Lutheran 
heresy,  and  to  visit  Germany  in  order  to  commence  there 
the  operations  agreed  upon.  At  the  diet  of  Spires  was  also 
announced  by  Ferdinand,  on  August  3d,  the  firm  determi 
nation  of  the  emperor  to  maintain  and  carry  into  execution 
the  edict  passed  at  Worms,  five  years  before,  against  the 
Lutheran  heresy.  But  pope  Clement  VII.,  having  become 
dissatisfied  with  the  emperor's  movements  against  his 
schemes,  to  weaken  that  prince's  power  in  Italy,  had  now 
arranged  a  holy  league  against  him.  The  emperor  immedi 
ately  recalled  his  rigorous  orders  against  the  German  prot- 
estants;  was  disposed  to  let  the  edict  of  Worms  remain 
unexecuted ;  proposed  to  the  protestant  princes  a  compact 
for  a  common  expedition  against  the  Turk  or  the  pope ;  on 
the  27th  of  August  framed  the  decree  for  the  calling  together 
of  an  ecclesiastical  council,  either  general  or  for  Germany ; 
and,  till  the  controversies  were  terminated  there,  each  of  the 
estates  of  the  empire  was  to  settle  the  affairs  of  the  church, 
as  might  be  justified  before  God  and  the  emperor. 

Two  days  later,  was  drowned  at  Mohacz,  in  his  flight 
from  the  Turkish  sultan  Soliman  II.,  Lewis,  king  of  the 
Hungarians  and  Bohemians,  who  had  willed  his  crown  to 
Ferdinand,  the  rigid  and  zealous  popish  brother  of  the  em 
peror  Charles.  He  abandoned  the  concerns  of  Germany  to 
attend  to  this  rich  but  uncertain  inheritance. 

Amid  these  disorders,  the  pope  is  supposed  to  have  been 
in  alliance  with  the  sultan  of  the  Turks.  King  Gustavus 
failed  not  to  remind  the  pope's  friend  Brask,  of  this  nn- 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  155 

worthy  proceeding.  "  It  strikes  us,"  writes  the  king  to  him 
on  November  9,  1526,  "  that  the  pope  is  he  who  most  de-  j 
parts  from  Christian  fidelity,  in  giving  himself  to  the  Turk, 
who  now  is  all  powerful  over  the  whole  of  Hungary,  and  j 
is  close  to  Germany,  and  has  eminent  means  for  extending 
his  power  over  Christendom,  where  he  has  support  from  the 
pope,  who  ought  to  be  first  and  most  his  foe."  The  bishop, 
on  this,  declared  to  Thure  Jonsson  :  "  To-day  our  gracious 
lord  has  written  us,  that  the  pope  holds  with  the  Turk,  and 
we  cannot  conceive  how  that  can  be,  surrounded  as  he  is 
with  difficulties  on  all  sides.  If  it  be  so,  the  holy  Christian 
faith  or  church,  can  in  nothing  be  bettered.  He  has  done, 
as  if  he  wished  to  go  in  the  way  of  others  tvho,  for  such  causes, 
have  been  deposed.  And  there  is  thus  left  no  sure  ground  for  \. 
opposing  the  Lutheran  or  any  other  heresy."  The  suspicion  of 
Clement's  conduct,  provoked  Brask  to  accept  the  principles 
of  the  councils  of  Constance  and  Basil,  to-  which  his  mind 
naturally  leaned.  He  replied  to  the  king  in  much  the  same 
strain  as  that  in  which  he  had  written  to  Thure  Jonsson ; 
but  added,  "  it  is  no  wonder  the  Turk  attacks  Christendom, 
when  he  hears  that  the  new  doctrines  are  in  favor." 

The  mind  of  the  emperor  was  embittered  against  the 
pope.  Charles  spoke  and  acted  as  a  foe  of  the  papacy 
would  have  done.  He  declared  to  the  pope  his  astonish 
ment  that  the  vicegerent  of  Christ  could  dare  to  shed  blood 
for  the  sake  of  worldly  possessions.  This  was  contrary  to 
the  teaching  of  the  gospel.  Ferdinand  received  a  commis 
sion  to  have  recruits  raised  in  Germany.  He  directed  it 
should  be  given  out  that  the  army  was  to  march  against 
the  Turks.  Every  one  well  understood  what  Turks  he 
meant. 

At  the  close  of  the  year  1526,  Clement  having  previously 
shut  himself  up  in  the  castle  of  St.  Angelo,  in  consequence 
of  the  riots  in  the  city  of  Rome,  the  German  troops  of  the 
emperor  broke  into  Italy.  In  conjunction  with  the  soldiery 


156  HISTORY    OF    TUB    ECCLESIASTICAL 

of  that  country,  who  were  in  arms  against  the  pope,  and  in 
defiance  of  the  emperor's  {suspension  of  arms  with  that 
spiritual  prince,  they  stormed  Rome  on  the  6th  of  May, 
1527.  "  It  is  the  judgment  of  God,"  said  Brask,  when  he 
heard  of  the  differences  between  the  pope  and  the  Caesar. 
The  judgment  was  now  fulfilled. 

While  the  elect,  but  banished  archbishop  of  Upsala,  was 
preparing  to  solicit  the  pope  more  earnestly  than  ever  for 
aid  and  protection,  the  pope  himself;  a  prisoner  in  the 
capital  of  Christendom,  stood  in  need  of  his  own  and  his 
friend's  intercessions  and  prayers. 

We  must  here  make  a  short  digression  to  follow  the  two 
last  Roman  archbishops  of  Sweden,  the  brothers  John  and 
Olaus  Magnus,  to  the  end  of  their  career.  John  remained 
some  years  in  Poland,  where  he  was  maintained  by  the 
alms  of  the  king  and  bishops.  In  1533,  after  a  protestant 
archbishop  had  been  for  two  years  seated  in  the  chair  of 
Upsala,  he  obtained,  by  an  advised  journey  to  Rome,  con 
firmation  from  the  pope,  and  was  consecrated  for  the  church 
and  province  of  Upsala,  Gustavus  Trolle  being  previously 
declared  by  the  pope  to  be  deprived  of  his  office,  and  John 
himself  having  now  no  more  annates  to  give.  He  was  also 
made  the  pope's  legate  to  Sweden,  to  recover  the  Swedish 
•church  to  apostolic  and  catholic  unity.  But  this  was  now 
•  too  late.  For  some  time,  immediately  after  he  left  Sweden, 
S  king  Gustavus  had  frequently  summoned  him  to  return,  but 
he  refused  to  leave  his  darling  ease.  He  now  wrote  in  vain 
to  the  king  and  chapter  of  Upsala.  The  bond  between  him 
and  fatherland  was  dissolved.  The  king  had  forbidden  cor 
respondence  with  him. 

In  1537,  he  was  called  again  from  Poland  to  Italy,  to  the 
contemplated  council  at  Mantua,  where  he  had  a  vote  to 
support  the  papal  party.  The  council  was  postponed,  and 
he  stayed  some  time  in  Venice,  supported  by  its  archbishop. 
At  last,  having  in  contemplation  to  return  to  Poland,  he 


REFORMATION   IN    SWEDEN.  157 

was,  instead,  invited  to  Rome  by  pope  Paul  IV.,  and  was 
there  quartered  in  a  hospital.  After  long-continued  en 
treaties,  he  obtained  at  last  a  better  harbor,  but  in  vain 
solicited  the  covetous  pope  for  a  settled  income.  Some  years 
passed  in  empty  requests  and  futile  hopes,  when  the  college 
of  cardinals  allowed  him  an  annuity,  which  he  received  till 
the  time  of  his  death.  Yet  it  is  said  that  during  his  un 
wearied  begging  applications  to  the  pope,  his  poverty  had 
six  attendants.  He  died  in  the  year  1544,  and  was  buried 
in  the  church  of  St.  Peter  at  Rome,  at  the  expense  of  the 
pope,  who  then  first  extended  to  him  a  helping  hand. 

Fourteen  years  later,  1558,  was  laid  to  rest  by  his  side 
his  brother  Olaus,  who,  after  his  embassy  to  Rome  in  1523, 
never  again  returned  to  the  Swedish  soil.  He  faithfully 
shared  his  brother's  misfortunes,  and  after  the  death  of  that 
brother,  was  nominated  and  consecrated  archbishop  of 
Upsala  and  primate  of  Sweden.  After  him  the  archiepis- 
copal  title  of  Upsala  ceased  to  be  considered  even  in  name 
Roman  catholic. 

Both  brothers  ameliorated  their  exile,  and  kept  alive  the 
memory  of  their  fatherland,  by  historic  works.  In  Dantzic 
John  composed  his  history  of  the  metropolitan  church  of 
Upsala,  brought  down  to  his  brother's  death  by  Olof,  and 
published^at  Rome  in  15 GO,  after  the  death  of  both.  In 
Venice  John  compiled  his  praiseworthy  history  of  the  kings 
of  the  Goths  and  Swedes,  which  Olof  first  published  at 
Rome  in  1554.  A  year  after  came  out,  also  at  Rome,  Olof 's 
history  of  the  northern  people,  their  habits  and  customs. 

Olof  also  made  vain  attempts  to  reconcile  himself  to  king 
Gustavus.  In  1554  he  sent  him  the  lately  published  history 
of  John,  which,  in  some  copies,  probably  those  designed  for 
Sweden,  has,  in  place  of  the  dedication  to  the  pope,  a  sim 
ilar  one  to  the  sons  of  king  Gustavus.  He  complains,  in  a 
letter  to  the  king,  of  May  1st,  1554,  that -for  eleven  years, 
since  his  appointment  to  the  bishopric  of  Upsala,  lie  had 


158  HISTORY   OP   THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

not  received  a  farthing,  not  a  word  by  letter,  nor  an  in 
struction  from  the  king,  which  grieved  him  more  than  all 
else.  "  That  the  king  built  a  castle  at  Upsala  and  Wadsten, 
might,"  says  Olof,  "  be  useful,  in  case  any  of  his  sons  be 
came  archbishops,  or  any  of  his  female  descendants  wished 
quietly  to  serve  God  in  the  convent  at  Wadsten."  The 
king's  answer  was  a  mixture  of  seriousness  and  pleasantry. 
Gustavus  regarded,  at  this  time,  both  the  reformed  church 
and  his  own  throne  as  too  well  established  to  be  annoyed  or 
agitated  by  the  letter  of  the  poor  man.  The  books,  he  said, 
when  he  could  overlook  and  examine  them,  he  would  recom 
pense  according  to  their  merit.  The  castle  at  Upsala  he 
had  caused  to  be  built,  to  restrain  the  superstitious  and  in 
decent  outrages  of  priests.  The  castle  of  Wadsten  would 
certainly  be  erected,  that  his  successors  might  there  live  in 
peace.  But,  as  St.  Bridget  had  prophesied  that  the  last 
mass  before  the  day  of  judgment  would  be  held  in  Wadsten, 
and  that  Rome  herself  should  come  to  Wadsten  on  that 
occasion,  and  as  to  this  end  it  ought  to  be  adorned,  he  would, 
on  the  part  of  the  young  ladies  of  that  convent,  bag  Olof, 
as  their  guardian,  to  come  to  their  help  with  a  hundred 
thousand  ducats,  to  be  taken  as  a  loan  from  the  worthy 
mesdames  of  St.  Bridget's  at  Rome,  from  the  holy  doctor, 
brother  Peter,  and  that  pious  holy  man,  Marten,  Skinnare, 
who  allowed  no  good  deeds  to  be  unrewarded,  as  they  showed 
at  Lagloskoping  and  Susenborg. 

But  we  return  to  the  position  and  fate  of  the  Swedish 
church  in  the  year  1526.  After  his  arrival  in  Dantzic, 
John  Magnus  wrote  to  Brask,  and  intrusted  to  him  the  care 
of  the  diocese  of  Upsala,  in  whatever  required  episcopal 
acts.  This  duty  he  took  upon  him,  but  appears  not  to  have 
been  satisfied  with  John's  leaving  the  kingdom.  The  only 
comfort  he  received  from  John's  two  letters  was,  to  learn 
that  he  had  found  a  safe  harbor,  while  the  Swedish  church 
was  shaken  by  the  storm.  Of  the  condition  of  the  Swedish 


REFORMATION   IN    SWEDEN.  159 

church  he  did  not  wish  to  write,  as  it  could  afford  no  con 
solation. 

It  is  not  surprising  that  bishop  Brask  felt  his  courage  sink 
and  his  dissatisfaction  increase  under  the  many  vexations 
which  now  accumulated  around  him.  The  pope  neglected 
the  welfare  of  the  Swedish  church,  and  exposed,  by  an  un-J 
wise  entanglement  in  worldly  affairs,  the  strength  and 
dignity  of  his  office.  The  king  now  treated  him  with  mord 
disrespect,  and  an  extreme,  sometimes  an  unreasonable 
degree  of  suspicion.  The  temporal  sword  which,  according 
to  the  doctrine  of  Gregory  VIE.  and  Innocent  III.,  was 
committed  to  the  successors  of  St.  Peter,  threatened  to  turn 
itself  against  that  church.  The  man  who  came  hither  in 
the  name  of  the  pope,  to  give  the  Swedish  church  order  and 
discipline,  had  brought  dismay  by  his  remissness  and  indis 
cretion,  and  at  length  deserted  his  charge.  Of  the  shepherds 
of  the  sees,  more  than  half  were  not  acknowledged  at  Rome, 
and  acknowledged  by  the  government  of  the  country  only 
for  the  sake  of  quiet.  In  full  power  there  stood  on  this 
man's  side  but  two  bishops,  and  in  strength  and  will  to  ex 
ercise  that  power  he  stood  alone.  Ingomar  of  Wexio,  was 
an  inactive  spectator  of  the  times,  and  a  yea  and  nay  man 
in  his  resolves.  Peter  of  Westeras — already,  in  1517,  a 
skeptic  in  the  church's  doctrine  of  indulgences,  and  ten  years 
later  indifferent  to  the  church's  riches,  partly,  it  seems,  from 
dissatisfaction  with  the  old  church,  partly,  it  may  be,  from 
age  and  weakened  vigor — was  little  interested.  The  protest 
against  the  sentence  on  Per  Sunnanvader,  and  a  later  protest, 
in  1531,  are  almost  the  only  striking  acts  of  his  life.  It  is 
singular  that  John  Magnus  intrusted  the  care  of  the  see  of 
Upsala  to  Brask,  and  not  to  the  nearest  neighbor,  which  was 
Peter. 

How  far  other  men,  besides  the  king,  could  now  venture 
against  the  church,  was  shown  by  Arvid  the  Westgoth,  who, 
in  1525,  obtained  Kalmar,  More,  and  Oeland,  in  investiture. 
He  took  the  tithes  of  the  bishop  in  Oeland,  violently  quar- 


160  HISTORY    OF   THE      .CGLESIASTICAL. 

tered  on  the  clergy  and  tenants  of  the  bishop,  carried  off  the 
bishop's  oxen  and  horses,  levied  his  fines,  imprisoned  priests, 
dissolved  marriages,  allowed  those  to  go  to  church  who  for 
adultery  and  other  offences  had  been  excommunicated,  and 
committed  many  other  outrages.  It  was  the  threatening 
precursor  of  the  dissolution  of  the  church's  discipline,  which 
many  times  and  in  many  places  followed  the  Reformation, 
wherever  it  was  carried  on  with  any  degree  of  vehemence. 
Brask  wrote  and  complained,  admonished  Arvid,  and  begged 
his  wife's  mediation.  Arvid,  who  pretended  to  have  a  com 
mission  for  what  he  did,  denies,  in  a  letter  to  the  bishop, 
having  done  anything  unlawful,  and  begs  the  prelate  not  to 
put  in  use  with  him  any  Romish  tactics.  "  May  God  put 
an  end  "here  to  this,"  exclaimed  the  bishop,  in  a  letter  to 
Thure  Jonsson,  "  otherwise  we  shall  evidently  be  obliged  to 
give  up  all,  according  to  the  desires  of  those  who  have  long 
coveted  it." 

The  disagreement  between  king  Gustavus  and  bishop 
Brask,  proceeded  to  greater  lengths,  and  was  more  earnestly 
pursued  on  the  part  of  the  former,  after  John  Magnus  left 
the  country.  The  bishop  desired,  from  the  press  he  had 
established  at  Soderkoping,  to  circulate  over  Sweden  a 
translation  of  some  of  the  German  emperor's  decrees  against 
the  doctrine  of  Luther,  and  also  the  letter  against  Luther  by 
duke  George  of  Saxony.  On  the  10th  of  November,  1526, 
the  king  wrote  and  declared  his  disapprobation  of  such  an 
attempt.  It  was  not  certain  that  these  edicts  were  not  sup 
posititious.  The  king  seemed  to  himself  to  find  their  cir 
culation,  as  wrell  as  of  George's  letter,  opposed  to  his  own 
jurisdiction,  as  he  had  not  so  seriously  decided  as  they  had 
done  against  the  doctrine  of  Luther.  The  king,  therefore, 
enjoined  him  to  refrain  from  the  promulgation  of  these  writ 
ings.  "  And  let  there  be  sent  hither,"  continues  the  king, 
"  some  learned  men  of  your  church,  who  with,  reason  and 
demonstration  of  the  Scriptures,  can  prove  that  here  another 


REFORMATION   IN    SWEDEN.  161 

teaching  than  that  of  the  holy  gospel  is  bruited  and  preached. 
They  shall  be  heard  with  forbearance  and  with  all  favor,  may 
set  forth  their  positions,  and  where  it  can  be  proved  that 
any  unchristian  doctrine  is  preached,  we  will  willingly  see 
that  they  are  punished  who  cannot  render  a  reason."  The 
bishop  exculpated  himself.  Pie  had  no  intention  of  offend 
ing  the  king,  and  desired  him  to  place  no  confidence  in  those 
who,  without  being  authorized,  carried  the  bishop's  mes 
sage.  The  challenge  to  a  disputation  with  the  priests  at 
Stockholm,  he  had  communicated  to  his  clergy,  and  they  had 
all  declared  themselves  to  harbor  no  doubt  of  the  Christian 
truth  which  hitherto  had  been  held  in  Christendom. 

The  course  of  Brask  was  watched  with  great  suspicion. 
While  they  were  still  lying  in  press,  the  king  had  learned  his 
intention  to  publish  the  above-named  writings.  The  bishop 
complains  that  his  letters  were  intercepted.  The  letter  to 
Upsala,  in  which  he  censures  the  new  teaching,  had  come 
to  the  king's  knowledge,  who  also  suspected  that  more  such 
were  written  to  many  parts  of  the  kingdom.  It  had  been 
said,  what,  however,  the  bishop  denied  to  be  true,  that  after 
his  printing  press  in  Soderkoping  was  prohibited,  because 
it  did  mischief  in  Stockholm,  he  caused  refutations  of  Lu- 
theranisni  to  be  printed  at  Kopenham.  The  king,  there 
fore,  at  last,  on  February  2,  1527,  forbade  him  to  let  any 
thing  go  abroad  among  the  simple-minded  people,  before 
the  king  had  seen  it  and  investigated  the  character  of  its 
teaching. 

The  question  often  before  agitated,  of  a  religious  confer 
ence  for  the  settlement  of  disputes,  was,  it  appears,  now 
taken  up  in  earnest.  Dissatisfaction  had  been  expressed 
through  many  parts  of  the  land,  to  the  effect,  that  the  king 
was  desirous  of  introducing  a  new  faith.  This  the  king  re 
garded  as  the  more  unjust,  because  he  offered  that  a  strict 
examination  should  be  instituted  into  the  teaching  and 
preaching  called  new.  He  now  declared  his  determination. 


102  HISTORY    OP   THE   ECCLESIASTICAL 

to  call  together  the  most  learned  and  eminent  men  in  the 
land,  to  investigate  what  was  most  true,  which  should  be  the 
base  of  an  unalterable  concord.  He  therefore  directed 
bishop  Brask  to  propose  the  time  and  place  for  such  a  con 
ference. 

The  letter  of  the  king  to  this  effect,  bears  date  January 
2,  1527.  Fourteen  days  after,  it  was  answered  by  Brask, 
evading  the  question  of  a  religious  conference.  Such  new 
doctrines  had  been  before  examined  in  many  ecclesiastical 
councils,  and  no  intelligent  man  could  desire  further  to  dis 
pute  upon  them,  contrary  to  the  decrees  of  all  Christendom. 
But  if  the  king  wished,  in  the  course  of  the  summer,  for  a 
provincial  council,  and  to  call  together  the  church's  prel 
ates  and  chapters,  to  consider  of  these  and  other  matters, 
the  bishop  would  in  this,  proceed  according  to  the  royal 
pleasure. 

Bishop  Brask  shunned  and  feared  a  disputation  011  the 
articles  of  the  faith.  He  regarded  it  as  dangerous  for  the 
disputant,  who,  perhaps  might  himself  be  wavering  in  the  faith, 
and  so  commit  a  sin  in  its  defence ;  and  he  regarded  it  as 
dangerous  for  the  hearers.  These  might  be  confirmed  in  the 
faith,  if  strong  defenders  were  found;  but  the  simple  and 
weak  in  faith  might  easily  become  still  weaker,  when  they 
perceived  that  faith  to  be  called  in  question,  of  which  they 
never  doubted  because  they  never  heard  of  any  deviation 
from  it.  Hence  had  the  canon  law  forbidden  laymen,  pub 
licly  or  privately,  to  dispute  on  the  faith.  He  would  prefer 
that  the  king  should  give  up  the  idea  of  a  provincial  coun 
cil,  under  which  form  he  supposed  king  Gustavus  designed 
matters  of  faith  to  be  examined ;  but  if  the  king  could  not 
be  induced  to  change  his  purpose,  one  need  not  be  frightened, 
knowing  that  patience  has  its  perfect  work.  It  would  be 
proper,  however,  that  such  a  case  should  be  managed  and 
carried  on  by  men  of  the  same  rank  and  condition,  doctor 
against  doctor,  knight  against  knight,  king  against  king. 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  163 

The  king  of  England  had  already  trod  on  that  path.     Such 
is  the  tenor  of  Brask's  letter  to  doctor  Galle. 

The  reports  disseminated  through  the  land  of  an  ap 
proaching  change  within  the  church,  became  more  and  more  ; 
the  topic  of  all  men's  thoughts  and  conversation.  The 
minds  of  men  were  the  more  disturbed  as  they  were  the  I 
more  perplexed  and  uncertain.  In  many  parts  were  pro-! 
claimed  the  hitherto  almost  unheard-of  sentiments,  respect 
ing  the  overthrow  of  the  papacy,  the  spiritual  thraldom,  the 
unfitness  and  incompetency  of  the  priests  and  monks  to  be 
guides  in  the  way  of  salvation,  and  many  more  topics  of  the 
like  kind.  But  the  new  teachers  preached  many  crude 
ideas,  little  else  than  a  denial  of  what  had  hitherto  been  rev 
erenced  as  truth.  In  other  parts  where  these  new  teach 
ers  were  unable  to  penetrate,  there  came  alarming  reports 
that  the  king  was  attached  to  a  new  faith,  and  they  excited 
the  greater  alarm,  that  men  wist  not  what  this  new  faith 
meant.  Many  priests  who  possessed  the  confidence  of 
the  people,  represented  the  case  as  dangerous  to  the  exist 
ence  of  Christianity.  From  Upsala  such  reports  were 
spread  over  all  the  archdiocese. 

During  the  disturbances  in  Dalecarlia,  in  the  years  1524 
and  1525,  complaints  were  rife  against  the  king,  for  injuries 
done  to  the  property  of  the  church,  though  nothing  was  said 
of  the  introduction  of  a  new  faith.  But  in  the  year  1526, 
inquiries  on  this  subject  became  more  lively.  Early  in  the 
spring,  John  Magnus  had  written  to  the  king,  of  having 
heard  that  in  Norway,  where  the  news  of  the  king's  appre 
hended  defection  was  probably  carried  by  Sunnanvader  and 
Knut,  prayers  were  offered  up  that  the  king  might  remain 
firm  in  the  faith.  "  It  is  well  prayed,"  replied  the  king, 
"  although,  perhaps,  the  most  of  them  know  but  little  of 
what  the  true  Christian  faith  is." 

The  dissolution  of  the  monastery  at  Gripsholm,  had  ex 
cited  such  interest  throughout  the  land,  that  Gustavus  found 


164  HISTORY    OP   THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

it  necessaiy  to  issue  a  proclamation  on  the  subject  through 
many  provinces  of  the  kingdom. 

There  soon  followed,  occasioned  by  the  above  mentioned 
reports,  letters  from  the  king  respecting  the  new  faith,  as  it 
was  termed,  to  Helsingland,  dated  on  the  26th  of  May,  1526  ; 
to  East  Gothland  on  January  7th,  and  to  West  Gothland, 
on  February  22d,  of  the  following  year. 

They  are  all  in  the  main  points,  of  one  and  the  same 
tenor,  and  clearly  show  how  much  was  done  beforehand  for 
the  subsequent  transactions  at  Westerns.  It  was  complained 
that  the  king  protected  and  favored  in  Upland  certain 
preachers,  who  taught  another  faith  than  that  we  have 
learned  from  Christ  and  his  apostles.  This  was  not  true. 
The  king  desired  to  die  a  Christian  man,  as  his  father  and 
forefathers  were  before  him.  Dissensions  had  in  other 
Christian  lands  arisen  from  the  circumstance,  that  some 
prominent  men  were  desirous  of  exercising  the  vices  which 
had  grown  up  within  Christendom,  to  the  oppression  and  in 
jury  of  many.  And  here  also,  in  this  kingdom,  had  some 
begun  to  press  forward  to  the  same  mark.  But  the  lordli 
ness  and  avarice  of  the  heads  of  the  church  were  obsti 
nately  opposed  to  every  change  ;  an  opposition  prejudicial 
to  the  public  weal  and  the  good  of  the  people.  The  heads 
of  the  church,  the  pope,  the  bishops,  and  their  allies,  had 
committed  unbecoming  outrages,  and  thus  put  the  kingdom 
in  danger.  They  had  for  selfish  purposes  oppressed  the 
laity.  So  when  any  one  owed  them  anything,  they  with 
held  from  him  the  holy  sacrament,  against  the  laws  of  God 
and  all  equity.  This  the  king  wished  not  to  permit,  but 
that  like  other  good  men  they  should  recover  their  debts  by 
law,  and  at  the  assize  of  the  proper  lord.  In  like  manner 
it  was  an  objectionable  thing  with  regard  to  the  breach  of 
holy  days,  that,  if  any  one  shoots  a  bird  or  takes  a  dish  of 
fish,  he  must  pay  a  fine  to  the  priest  on  behalf  of  the  bishop. 
God  had  not  forbidden  this,  provided  it  is  not  done  during 


REFORMATION   IN    SWEDEN.  165 

divine  service,  when  a  man  ought  to  be  hearing  the  word 
of  God.  It  was  an  objectionable  thing  that  priests  offending 
against  laymen  had  privileges  above  others.  There  would 
be  better  reason  in  their  having  only  equal  justice.  It  was 
also  objectionable,  that,  if  a  priest  beats  a  layman  he  is  not 
excommunicated,  but  the  layman  is  if  he  beats  a  priest. 
God  had  here  made  no  distinction,  but  equally  commanded 
priests  to  live  in  concord,  love,  and  harmony,  with  laymen, 
as  these  with  priests.  It  was  objectionable  that  when  a 
priest  dies  without  having  made  a  will,  the  poor  heirs  lost 
their  right,  and  the  bishop,  though  not  of  kin,  took  the 
inheritance.  So  also  when  the  king  wished  to  watch  over 
and  guard  the  interests  of  the  crown,  and  not  permit  them, 
as  hitherto,  to  draw  the  property  of  the  crown  to  them 
selves,  or  receive  the  king's  fines,  they  said  the  king  wished 
to  introduce  a  new  faith  and  the  doctrines  of  Luther.  The 
king  had  expected  that  from  all  Christendom  a  general  diet 
would  be  assembled  on  the  subject  of  these  disorders,  but  as 
this  had  not  yet  taken  place,  he  would  call  together  a  coun 
cil  of  the  kingdom,  and  the  most  prominent  men  of  the  whole 
realm,  and  by  their  counsel  and  consent,  under  the  help  of 
God,  ordain  what,  between  God  and  his  conscience,  he  found 
to  be  right. 

The  king,  on  May  18th,  1527,  puts  forth  a  kindred  de-[ 
fence,   in  answer  to    the   complaints    of  the  Dalecarlians,\ 
among  which  was  that  of  Lutheranism  being  introduced  \ 
into  the  land,  and  of  the  kind  of  preaching  in  Stockholm,  as  \ 
well  as  of  the  Swedish  psalms  and  hymns.     The  king  knew    \ 
not  of  any  other  Lutheranism,  than  his  having  ordered  to 
be  preached  the  word  of  God  and  his  holy  gospel,  that  the 
priests  might  not  deceive  the  poor  peasantry  and  people 
with  fables  for  their  own  avaricious  ends,  and  trample  upon 
nobles  and  princes.     A  swarm  of  priests  and  monks  called 
this  Lutheranism,  and  a  new  faith.     The  censure  of  the 
practice  in  Stockholm  of  Swedish  psalms  and  hymns,  sur- 


166  HISTORY    OF   THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

prised  him,  as  "  over  the  whole  kingdom  in  parish  churches, 
it  was  usual  to  sing  in  Swedish  and  so  praise  God."  It  was 
as  well  this  should  be  done  in  our  own  mother-tongue,  as  in 
Latin,  which  was  not  understood. 

At  last,  but  to  no  purpose,  pope  Clement  VII.,  began  in 
1526,  to  think  of  the  flock  in  Sweden,  which  was  well  nigh 
being  lost  to  Rome.  Probably  the  urgent  negotiations  re 
specting  the  consecration  of  the  bishops  elect,  recalled  this 
flock  to  the  forgetful  heart  of  the  chief  shepherd.  On  Sep 
tember  19th  of  this  year,  he  wrote  a  letter  to  the  bishops  of 
Linkoping  and  Westerns,  in  Rome's  usual  sharp  and  extrav 
agant  style.  Through  the  repeated  complaints  of  many,  it 
had  come  to  his  ears,  that  some  priests  and  clerks,  and  even 
monastic  folk,  whose  life  and  faith  ought  to  be  an  example 
to  others,  had  so  forgotten  their  duty  and  station,  as  to  re 
ceive  the  godless  and  condemned  doctrines  of  Luther.  The 
pope  had  learned  that  they  publicly  entered  into  illicit  mar 
riage  ;  that  the  service  of  the  holy  mass  was  either  altogether 
changed,  or  wholly  neglected  and  abandoned ;  that  the  holy 
eucharist,  without  reverence,  was  received  under  both  kinds  ; 
that  Christians  of  both  sexes  went  to  the  holy  communion 
without  penance,  without  confession,  without  contrition ; 
that  the  sacrament  of  baptism  was  administered  without 
holy  unction,  holy  oil,  and  consecrated  water,  not  in 
churches,  but  in  worldly  and  indecent  places ;  and  that  ex 
treme  unction  was  given  in  contrariety  to  the  church's  order 
and  the  decrees  of  the  fathers  and  councils,  and  was  even  re 
fused  to  those  who  desired  it.  It  was  chiefly  those  to  whom 
the  souls  of  the  faithful  were  intrusted,  that  seduced  them, 
and  incited  them  to  follow  the  standard  and  dominion  of  Sa 
tan.  It  was  the  duty  of  the  bishops,  even  if  it  were  requi 
site  with  the  aid  of  the  temporal  arm,  to  thrust  these  un 
worthy  ministers  of  the  altar  from  the  sanctuary,  and  for 
that  purpose  to  address  themselves  to  the  king  and  nobility 
of  the  kingdom.  In  conclusion,  the  pope  addresses  his  letter 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  167 

to  the  king,  princes,  knights,  and  all  nobles,  admonishing 
them  to  turn  their  regards,  power,  and  influence,  to  support 
the  honor  of  God's  holy  name,  that,  by  their  exertions,  with 
those  of  the  bishops,  the  faith  of  Christ  might  be  purified 
from  these  abominable  errors. 

Historic  information  is  wanting,  to  corroborate  each  point 
of  complaint  in  the  pope's  letter ;  although  it  is  probable 
that  such  expressions  were  the  emanations  of  an  unwise 
zeal.  But  there  is  no  evidence  that  the  papal  letter,  which 
came  to  Sweden  in  December,  1526,  was  published  there,  or 
communicated  to  the  king  and  council.  Either  the  bishops 
found  it  most  advisable  to  delay  its  publication,  the  rather 
as  from  Clement's  relations  with  the  emperor  Charles  V.  and 
with  Sweden,  they  might  foresee  how  useless  it  would  be,  or 
the  king  had  forbidden  its  promulgation ;  and  we  turn  to 
the  complaints  made  by  Brask  to  his  friends. 

In  the  soul  of  bishop  Brask,  faith  maintained  a  contest  in 
behalf  of  the  old  church ;  and  firm  confidence  was  mingled 
with  deep  dissatisfaction  and  mistrustful  dejection.  "  Be 
not  uneasy,"  he  writes,  on  January  22,  1527,  to  doctor 
Peter  Galle,  of  Upsala,  "  knowing  that  faith  has  its  perfect 
work.  We  have  determined,  according  to  the  exhortation 
of  the  gospel,  to  fear  Him  who  can  cast  the  soul  into  hell. 
You  have  your  prayers,  your  address  to  the  Lord  God,  to 
St.  Erik  and  other  patrons  of  the  kingdom,  and  nothing 
shall  finally  harm,  because  it  is  of  the  church  a  peculiarity, 
that  she  then  triumphs  when  she  appears  oppressed.  For 
the  gates  of  hell  shall  not  prevail  against  her." 

On  December  llth,  1526,  he  wrote  to  Peter  Benedict  at 
.Rome  :  "  Your  longing  for  cares,  tumults  and  confusions, 
must  hasten  you  hither ;  and  you  must  not  leave  your  pa 
tience  behind.  We  are  in  hope  that  it  is  to  us  instead  of  our 
purgatory ;  better  here  than  in  future,  now  than  hereafter. 
The  Swedish  church  is  in  the  worst  condition,  and  will  be 
so  as  long  as  God  pleases.  The  poorest  peasant  in  Sweden 


168  HISTORY    OF   THE   ECCLESIASTICAL 

is  in  a  better  condition  than  she,  for  he  enjoys  law  and  jus 
tice,  his  proper  privileges,  and  the  old  good  customs  of  the 
kingdom.  I  shall,  as  far  as  lies  in  my  power,  willingly 
carry  into  execution,  the  papal  brief,  with  consent  of  the 
king,  which  I  hope  to  obtain,  since  his  heart  is  in  His  hand 
and  depends  on  His  pleasure,  who  is  always  able  to  make  a 
Saul  to  be  a  Paul,  by  removing  evil  counsellors."  "  If  the 
Lord  doth  not  shorten  these  days,"  he  wrote  on  the  20th  of 
March,  1527,  "  we  can  look  for  nothing  but  daily  enmity, 
or  await  the  dissolution  of  the  flesh,  when  the  goodness  of 
God  so  determines."  On  occasion  of  the  insurrection  of  the 
Dalesmen,  in  1527,  he  exclaims :  "  God  forgive  those  who 
have  brewed  all  these  evils  with  their  new  gospel,  which 
Luther  has  dragged  from  the  b.ench,  according  to  the  ex 
pression  of  duke  George's  letter."* 

In  the  midst  of  these  sorrows,  hopes,  and  remonstrances 
of  the  bishop,  came  to  him  the  summons  of  king  Gustavus 
to  the  diet  of  Westeras.  Surprised  that  the  place  of  meet 
ing  was  changed  from  Soderkoping  to  Westeras,  and  uneasy 
for  the  quiet  of  East  Gothland,  he  wrote,  on  May  23,  1527, 
to  his  friend,  the  administrator,  Thure  Jonsson,  "  We  will 
certainly  drag  ourselves  up  to  this  diet,  though  we  know 
what  will  thence  befall  us." 

The  important  change  in  the  shifting  scene,  was  now 
about  to  take  place.  Gustavus  determined  to  hazard  all 
upon  the  diet  he  had  summoned  on  the  very  confines  of  the 
insurgent  Dalesmen.  A  month  after,  the  23d  of  May,  worse 
had  befallen  the  bishop  than  he  even  foreboded. 

*  Petrus  Benedict  was  the  bishop's  agent  at  Rome,  where  he  resided  in 
the  house  of  St.  Bridget.  The  bishop  paid  yearly  for  his  agent's  support 
there,  to  the  abbess  of  Wadsten,  the  sum  of  a  hundred  marks. 


REFORMATION   IN    SWEDEN.  169 


CHAPTER    VIII. 

WRITINGS   CONCERNING   THE    REFORMATION,  BEFORE   THE  DIET  OF 
WESTERAS    IN    1527.     THE    ANSWER   OF    OLAUS     PETRI    TO    PAULUS 
'  ELLE.    THE  ANSWERS  TO  THE  TWELVE  QUESTIONS. 

UNTIL  the  year  1527,  there  appeared  in.  Sweden,  with 
the  exception  of  the  translation  of  the  New  Testament,  no 
writings  designed  to  win  public  opinion  to  a  change  in  the 
teaching  and  discipline  of  the  church.  The  spirit  and  con 
dition  of  the  times  demanded  the  use  of  this  instrument,  less 
than  immediate  energy  in  word  and  action.  For  those 
who  desired  further  instruction,  there  were  in  circulation, 
from  Germany  and  Denmark,  works  for  and  against  the 
Reformation. 

It  was  such  a  consideration  that  called  forth  the  first  of 
the  two  Swedish  works,  composed  before  the  diet  of  Wes- 
teras;  although  we  cannot  with  certainty  say  that  even 
these  were  in  general  circulation.  They  are  to  be  received 
as  representing  the  predominant  views  of  the  contending 
parties,  so  as  to  give  a  clear  idea  of  the  material  points  of 
the  controversy. 

At  this  time  there  lived  at  Kopcnham  a  Carmelite 
monk  named  Paulus  Elite,  come  from  Holland,  born  in 
Wai-berg,  and  therefore  a  subject  of  Denmark,  though  on 
the  mother's  side,  of  a  Swedish  family.  When  he  speaks  of 
master  Sven  of  Skara  as  his  teacher,  he  seems  to  intimate  that 
for  some  time  he  had  the  benefit  of  education  in  Sweden,  where, 
it  is  likely,  West  Gothland  was  the  home  of  his  mother's 

8 


170  HISTORY    OF   THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

family,  though  he  does  not  enter  into  particulars.  He  be 
longed  to  the  Carmelite  monastery  at  Helsingor,  and  re 
moved  to  that  of  the  Danish  Carmelites  erected  into  a  col 
lege,  and  as  bachelor  in  theology,  lectured  in  the  university 
of  Kopenham,  after  king  Christian  II.,  on  that  condition, 
had  transferred  to  the  monastery  of  Helsingor  the  hospital 
of  St.  Goran,  at  Kopenham.  He  soon  took  hold  of  the 
principles  of  the  Reformation,  read  and  approved  the  smaller 
treatises  which  first  emanated  from  Luther,  but  afterward 
stopped  short,  or  rather  went  back,  when  the  Reformation 
appeared  to  him  to  go  too  far,  and  acquired,  through  this 
defection,  which  was  sometimes  attributed  to  not  very  credit 
able  motives,  the  nickname  of  Paul  Turncoat.  In  the  year 
1526,  he  opened  the  campaign  against  Luther,  in  a  letter  to 
the  knight  Tyge  Krabbe.  This  letter  was  circulated  through 
Sweden  by  the  enemies  of  the  Reformation,  and  a  copy  of  it 
fell  into  the  hands  of  master  Olof. 

Olaus  Petri  was  requested  to  reply  to  this  letter,  as  it 
might  have  an  injurious  influence  upon  those  who  were  not 
experienced  in  the  Holy  Scriptures.  His  "  Answer  to  an 
unchristian  letter,  which  a  lying  monk  called  Paulus  Elia^ 
has  put  forth  against  the  Holy  Gospel,  which  is  now,  by 
God's  grace  come  to  light,"  bears  date  March  28,  1527. 
In  this,  his  first  production,  Olaus  Petri  comes  out  in  sound, 
vigorous,  and  noble  language,  but  with  little  mercy  against 
his  adversary,  and  with  a  clearness,  depth,  and  compass  of 
thought,  which,  from  the  commencement,  appoints  him  that 
marked  position  among  the  learned  men  of  the  Swedish 
church,  which  posterity  has  continued  to  assign  him.  The 
grateful  disciple  defends  his  teacher  against  Paul's  attack. 
The  latter,  had  in  his  letter,  which  is  only  known  through 
Olof 's  answer,  presented  a  multitude  of  accusations  :  as  that 
Luther  and  his  followers  were  the  cause  of  the  anarchy 
which  had  entered  into  church  and  state,  and  displayed 
itself  in  the  war  of  the  peasants  then  raging  in  Germany ; 


REFORMATION   IN    SWEDEN.  171 

that  they  rejected  good  works  and  the  books  of  the  learned, 
and  even  portions  of  the  New  Testament ;  desired,  from 
abuses  which  possibly  existed  within  the  church,  to  remove 
the  usages  that  were  good  and  wholesome ;  denied  the  free 
dom  of  man's  will ;  discarded  the  sacraments  of  the  church  ; 
sought  to  deprive  priests  of  all  their  incomes ;   threw  dis 
credit  on  the  poverty  of  monks ;  abolished  festivals ;  with 
other  charges  of  the  like  description.     Olaus  answers  every 
point  according  to  its  importance,  with  greater  or  less  pro 
lixity,  and  retorts  upon  the  popish  church  the  charges  which 
his  adversary  wished  to  cast  upon  Luther  and  his  followers. 
A  careful  study  of  the  Holy  Scriptures  and  of  the  fathers  of 
the  church,  is  apparent  in  this  work  of  the  reformer.  From 
the  writings  of  Luther,  which  had  hitherto  appeared,  he 
quotes  nothing ;  but  yet  displays  an  accurate  knowledge  of 
them.     He  was  far  removed  from  the  blind  worship  of  Lu 
ther  which   had   beome  so    common.      Paulus    Eliae    had 
blamed    Luther    for    asserting  at  different  times,  that    the 
church  had  been  in  error  for  three  hundred,  for  a  thousand, 
for  thirteen  hundred  years.      Olaus  does  not  undertake,  in 
this  respect,  a  defence  of  Luther,  but  remarks  :  "  He  is  but 
a  man  as  we  aret  and  may  be  mistaken  as  well  as  we.     But 
he  counsels  us  to  follow  the  Scriptures.     Let  us  see  that 
what  he  says  corresponds  with  the  Scriptures,  then  let  us 
follow  him,  otherwise  not."  Then,  with  an  air  of  persuasion, 
he  draws  the  distinction  between  the  commandment  of  God 
and  the  commandments  and  ordinances  of  men,  and  shows 
how  the  latter,  by  little  and    little,  prevailed,  and  how  a 
good  practice  often  degenerated  into  an  abuse.  He  adds,  as  a 
defender  of  the  Reformation  ;   "  our  fathers  have  confessedly 
changed  good  into  evil,  why  should  we  not  confessedly  have 
changed  evil  into  good  *?" 

Although  the  church  reform  in  Sweden  was,  in  respect  to 
doctrine,  now  approaching  maturity,  we  must  direct  our 
attention  to  another  nearly  contemporaneous  production, 


172  HISTOHY    OF    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

"An  answer  to  twelve  questions  on  several  points,  in  which 
the  evangelical  and  papal  doctrines  do  not  agree,  and  a 
refutation  of  the  answer  given  by  doctor  Peter  Galle  to 
these  questions.  Olaus  Petri.  Stockholm,  1527." 

"  King  Gustavus  had,"  says  Olaus,  in  the  preface  to  this 
production  of  his  pen,  "  laid  to  heart  the  differences  which 
existed  respecting  matters  of  faith,  and  made  inquiries  from 
both  parties,  in  order  to  find  wherein  that  difference  was 
most  to  be  found.  He  had  at  length  become  satisfied,  that 
if  there  was  a  dissonance  in  many  particulars,  there  were 
twelve  points  in  which  there  could  be  no  concord.  The  king 
put  these  points  into  the  form  of  twelve  questions,  sent  them 
to  some  men  of  both  parties,  and  begged  to  have  their 
answers  and  arguments  on  the  same."  Olof  supposes  the 
purpose  of  the  king  to  have  been  to  call  together  some 
learned  men  and  prelates  of  the  church,  to  set  them  upon 
proving  and  settling  these  questions,  and  by  this  means  to 
quiet  the  disputes. 

"Who  were  the  learned  men  named  to  answer  the  questions 
is  not  known.  The  chief,  however,  were  the  two  leading 
champions  of  the  war,  Peter  Galle  and  Olaus  Petri.  To 
doctor  Galle  the  king  sent  the  questions,  on  December  4th, 
1526,  with  the  request,  that  by  Christmas  eve  he  would 
return  his  written  answer.  The  king  supposed  Galle  ob 
ligated  to  give  his  answer :  "  Because  you  are  a  doctor  of 
the  Holy  Scriptures,  and  have  to  that  end  devoted  your 
studies,  that  you  might  be  able  to  teach  us  laymen  those 
points,  which  for  us  to  know  is  necessary  to  our  sal 
vation." 

The  questions  delivered  to  Galle  were  but  ten.  More 
were  at  first  not  on  the  list,  but  the  other  two,  respecting  the 
monastic  life  and  the  sacrament  of  the  altar,  soon  came, 
that  they  too  might  at  the  same  time  be  answered.  After 
master  Olof  returned  the  king  his  answers,  he  was  asked  if 
he  were  prepared  to  sustain  and  defend  them,  should  any 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  173 

one  appear  in  opposition  *?  He  declared  himself  ready  and- 
willing  so  to  do,  and  twice  made  a  journey  to  Upsala  to 
meet  doctor  Galle,  and  had,  in  presence  of  the  king  and 
council  and  others,  challenged  him  to  the  contest.  But  the, 
latter  had  excused  himself  from  further  disputation.  Olof, 
therefore,  prepared  a  new  set  of  answers,  and  sent  them 
to  him  to  see  if  he  could  find  any  further  objections.  Olof 
was  the  more  incited  to  do  this,  as  the  friends  of  Galle 
declared  he  had  gained  the  victory,  and  no  one  would  now 
venture  to  attack  or  reply  to  him.  At  this  point,  when 
Olof  had  the  advantage  of  the  last  word,  the  questions  came 
out  in  print.  The  14th  day  of  May  is  the  date  of  the 
printed  copies. 

The  significance  and  importance  of  these  answers,  which 
might  be  considered  as  containing  the  confession  of  faith  of 
both  parties,  and  as  an  evidence  of  the  position  and  spirit 
of  the  leaders  when  the  reform  of  the  church  commenced 
in  Sweden,  demand  of  us,  as  to  their  substance  and  quality 
a  closer  investigation. 

The  first  question  was:  i<"  If  we  may  abandon  (withdraw 
from)  the  teaching  of  hoi//  men,  and  the  churctis  usages  and 
customs,  when  they  have  not  the  ivord  of  God  with  them  ?" 

Doctor  Galle  divides  his  answer  to  this  question  into  two 
parts.  On  the  first,  whether  we  may  fall  away  from  the 
teaching  of  holy  men,  he  remarks,  that  the  Holy  Scriptures 
have  sometimes  so  high  and  deep  a  meaning  that  they  can 
not  be  understood,  unless  interpreted  according  to  the  mind 
of  the  Holy  Ghost.  So  speaks  Peter  of  the  things  hard  to 
be  understood  in  the  epistles  of  Paul.  (2  Peter  iii.  10.) 
So  the  eunuch  could  not  understand  the  53d  chapter  of 
Isaiah,  until  Philip  was  sent  to  him  by  the  Holy  Ghost. 
(Acts  viii.)  Holy  men  who  interpreted  the  Scriptures,  have 
had  the  inspiration  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  (2  Pet.  i.  21.)  God 
has  dealt  out  divers  gifts  of  grace,  some  apostles,  some 
the  interpretation  of  Scripture.  (1  Cor.  xii.)  Now  after 


174  HISTORY    OF    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

that  holy  men  of  the  church  have  taught  and  interpreted 
the  Holy  Scriptures,  not  according  to  their  own  will  but  in 
spiration  of  the  Holy  Ghost ;  to  fall  away  from  the  teaching 
of  holy  men  is  to  fall  away  from  God  and  the  Holy  Ghost, 
who  has  spoken  through  these  men. 

In  regard  to  the  other  point,  of  falling  away  from  the 
church's  usages  and  customs,  which  are  not  founded  on  the 
word  of  God,  doctor  Galle  remarks,  that  such  church 
usages  as  are  reasonable  and  are  not  at  variance  with  the 
Scriptures,  and  have  been  a  long  time  held  by  our  fathers, 
holy  and  learned  men,  who  were  more  experienced  in  the 
Scriptures  than  we,  ought  to  be  kept.  The  apostles  had 
ordained  much  that  is  not  found  in  Scripture.  (1  Cor.  xi. 
34 ;  3  John  13 ;  Acts  xvi.  and  xvii.)  Augustin  also 
writes,  that  in  all  matters  of  the  church,  which  are  not 
mentioned  in  Scripture,  the  customs  and  practices  of  the 
fathers  should  be  esteemed  as  law. 

Master  Olof  makes  answer :  The  word  of  God  cannot 
be  altered.  If,  then,  teachers,  and  so  the  usages  of  the 
church,  carry  with  them  the  word  of  God,  there  should  be 
no  departure  from  them ;  for  by  not  doing  so  respect  would 
be  paid  to  the  word  of  God.  But  if  they  have  not  God's 
word  with  them  there  may  be  a  departure  ;  for  otherwise 
there  would  be  no  difference  between  God's  word  and  man's 
word,  from  which  it  would  follow  that  God  and  man  were 
equal,  because  their  word  was  equal.  There  is  no  doubt 
that  holy  men,  as  Ambrose,  Augustin,  Jerome,  and  others, 
were  full  of  the  Holy  Ghost ;  "  but  it  must  be  known  to 
every  one  who  reads  their  books  that  the  Holy  Ghost  did 
not  always  direct  them  when  they  wrote,  since  they  often,  of 
human  infirmity,  wrote  in  contradiction  to  each  other,  often 
in  contradiction  to  themselves,  if  not  to  the  word  of  God 
itself."  But  their  writings  were  to  be  read  with  judgment,  with 
careful  heed  how  they  kept  close  to  the  Scriptures. 

That  the  Scriptures  are  sometimes  difficult,  docs  not  pro- 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  175 

ceed  from  their  being  in  themselves  obscure,  but  from  our 
blindness  and  ignorance,  and  want  of  skill.  "  It  is  not  the 
fault  of  the  sun  that  they  who  have  weak  eyes  cannot  look 
up  to  him.  He  is  clear  enough  in  himself,  and  has  no  need 
of  being  enlightened  and  clarified."  Teachers  should  interpret 
the  Scripture  by  the  Scriptures  ;  the  Scripture  which  appears  dark 
and  obscure  by  that  which  is  plain  and  obvious.  When  it  is 
said  (2  Pet.  i.  20)  that  no  Scripture  is  of  any  private  inter 
pretation,  but  that  holy  men  spake  as  they  were  moved  by 
the  Holy  Ghost,  it  follows  that  they  who  give  themselves  to 
the  Scriptures  can  interpret  them.  This  comes  to  pass  when 
Scripture  is  interpreted  by  Scripture. 

Certainly  the  apostles  had  ordained  much  in  the  churches 
which  is  not  found  in  the  Scripture ;  but  no  one  can  say 
what  that  was,  with  the  exception  of  some  particulars.  We 
have  no  need  to  know  it,  for  had  there  been  the  need  it 
would  have  been  penned  in  Holy  Writ. 

Some  practices  are  in  use  from  -the  apostles'  times ;  as  the 
mode  tf  keeping  the  Lord's  day,  celebrating  Easter  and  the 
feast  of  Pentecost,  with  some  others ;  but  on  these  things  our 
salvation  does  not  depend.  Other  things  have  been  changed, 
as  the  prohibition  to  eat  blood,  that  there  was  no  difference 
between  presbyter  and  bishop.  In  days  of  old,  when  a 
priest  committed  open  wickedness  he  was  deposed  and  con 
sidered  no  more  a  priest,  but  now  it  is  said  that  he  can  be 
allowed  no  more  to  execute  his  office,  but  that  he  is  still  a 
priest.  The  bishop  or  priest  who  cumbered  himself  Avith 
worldly  cares  was  deposed  from  his  office.  This  now  takes 
place  no  more.  They  who  gave  money  to  become  bishop 
or  priest  were  degraded,  as  were  those  who  took  money  to 
bestow  the  office,  but  now  no  man  becomes  a  bishop  without 
giving  money  to  the  pope.  Pope  Marcellus  ordained  twenty- 
five  men  at  Rome,  who  were  called  cardinals,  their  office 
there  to  baptize  those  who  embraced  Christianity  and  to 
bury  the  dead :  "  now  there  is  such  a  change  made  in  the 


176  HISTORY    OF   THE   ECCLESIASTICAL 

buriers  of  the  dead  and  the  baptizers,  that  they  are  kings  and 
princes." 

Tlie  second  question  was :  "  If  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  & 
found  to  Jtave  bestowed  on  priests,  bishops,  popes,  any  power  or 
dojninion  over  mankind,  other  than  that  of  proclaiming  his  word 
and  will;  and  ought  there  to  be  any  other  priests  than  they  who 

do#>r 

His  answer  to  the  former  part  of  the  question,  doctor 
Galle  rests  upon  the  words  of  Christ  to  Peter  (1  Matt, 
xviii.)  :  "  If  thy  brother  sin  against  thee,"  &c.  Whore  it  is 
said  :  "  If  he  will  not  hear  thee  tell  it  to  the  church,"  doctor 
Galle  inserts,  "  tell  it  to  the  heads  of  the  church."  Accord 
ing  to  this  commandment  of  Christ,  the  doctor  regards 
spiritual  power  to  have  been  given  to  popes,  bishops,  and 
priests,  over  all  those  who  are  disobedient  to  God's  com 
mandment,  and  over  all  matters  consequential  to  the  church's 
welfare.  This  position  he  fortifies  from  Tit.  iii.,  10.  1  Cor. 
v.  5,  11. 

The  question,  if  there  should  be  other  priests  than  those 
who  proclaim  the  word  of  God,  doctor  Galle  answers  in  the 
affirmative.  1.  Because  Paul,  in  his  epistle  to  the  Romans, 
(i.  12),  and  in  other  places,  speaks  of  manifold  spiritual 
offices,  as  apostles,  prophets  and  the  like.  2.  Because  the 
priest's  office  is  to  pray  for  the  people.  So  in  the  Old  Tes 
tament,  according  to  the  prophet  Joel  (ii.  IT);  and  what  is 
true  under  the  old  is  still  more  true  under  the  new  dispen 
sation.  Christ  had  also  commanded  (Luke  xviii.  1)  always  to 
pray  and  not  to  be  weary,  which  Bede  interprets  thus  :  always 
to  pray,  that  is  to  read  or  sing  the  seven  horse  canonicse  of  the- 
church,  and  this  interpretation  the  royal  psalmist  fortifies. 
(Ps.  cxix.,  clxiv.)  3.  Because  the  highest  office  of  the 
priest  is  to  consecrate  the  body  of  our  Lord,  and  to  offer 
Him  for  men  according  to  the  apostle.  (Hcb.  v.  1.) 

Master  Olof  replies,  that  Christ  taught  that  His  kingdom., 
is  not  of  this  world.  He  was  obedient  to  the  existing 


REFORMATION   IN    SWEDEN.  177 

powers,  and  so  were  his  apostles.  If  the  popes,  bishops,  and 
priests,  are  now  followers  of  Christ  and  the  apostles,  they 
cannot  have  worldly  dominion.  They  should  feed  the  flock 
of  Christ,  feed  them  with  the  word  of  God,  for  no  other 
food  profits  them.  To  proclaim  the  word  of  God  is  the 
business  of  a  priest,  as  to  forge  is  the  business  of  a  smith. 
The  priests  are  ever  called  in  Scripture  expounders  of  the 
word,  and  the  Scriptures  know  nothing  of  any  other  priests 
than  those  who  preach  the  word  of  God. 

Galle  incurs  the  severe  censure  of  his  critic,  for  his  man 
ner  of  expounding  the  Scripture.  When  it  is  said,  "  tell  the 
church,"  it  is  made  wholly  different,  "  tell  the  heads  of  the 
church."  These  words  are  not  said  to  St.  Peter  alone,  but 
to  every  one  of  the  apostles,  and  afterward  to  every  Christian 
man.  Galle  also  confounds  spiritual  and  worldly  power. 
All  know  that  bishops  and  priests  receive  from  Christ  him 
self,  in  trust,  the  spiritual  sword,  which  is  the  word  of  God. 

Olof  further  remarks,  on  Galle's  answer,  that  the  corpo 
real  or  legal  priesthood  of  the  Old  Testament,  denoted  the 
spiritual  priesthood  of  the  new,  in  which  priesthood  every 
Christian  man  is  included.  The  command  always  to  pray, 
also  includes  all  men.  The  prayer  we  are  always  to  make 
is  not  with  the  mouth.  It  is  an  affectionate  longing,  a  desire 
and  wish  of  the  heart,  to  which  our  needs  compel  us.  Did 
the  words  of  Christ  mean  that  priests  should  read  or  sing 
the  seven  horae  canonicoe,  they  could  never  sleep  or  do  any 
thing  else.  The  words  of  Bede  are  also  by  Galle  misinter 
preted.  Bede  declares,  "  They  are  said  always  to  pray  and 
not  to  faint,  who,  at  the  appointed  times  (the  canonical 
hours),  do  not  fail  to  pray,  or  also,  all  that  a  righteous  man 
does  or  speaks,  according  to  the  will  of  God,  ought  to  be 
reckoned  as  prayer."  Why  are  the  words  of  David  quoted 
for  the  praise  of  God  seven  times  a  day,  and  not  of  Daniel 
(Dan.  vi.),  who  prayed  three  times  a  day  ?  It  is  nowhere 
found  in  Scripture  that  Christ  commanded  priests  to  conse- 


178  HISTORY    OF    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

crate  his  body  and  blood,  but  he  has  strongly  commanded 
them  to  preach.  "  We  may  be  saved  without  ever  partaking 
the  Lord's  Supper,  but  we  can  never  be  saved  unless  we  are 
taught  by  God's  word  on  what  we  shall  rest  our  faith,  and 
be  thus  made  spiritually  partakers  of  Christ,  who  is  the 
Word  of  God."  The  passage  in  Heb.  v.  1,  is  spoken  of 
the  'high  priest,  who  was  a  type  of  Christ. 

The  third  question  was  :  "  Whether  their  law,  command 
ments,  or  ordinances,  be  so  obligatomj,  that  they  sin  who  do  the 
contrary  f ' 

Gnlle  :  If  the  commandments  of  the  heads  of  the  church 
are  righteous,  and  draw  men  to  salvation,  they  are  truly  our 
Lord's  commandments  (Frov.  viii.  15).  As  God  contin 
uously  works  (John  v.  17)  to  retain  all  creatures  in  their 
natural  existence,  and  does  not  create  them  anew,  so  Christ 
upholds  the  church,  not  so  as  to  found  a  new  church,  but  to 
uphold  that  already  founded.  So  is  it  with  the  seed  sown 
in  the  earth,  which  grows  with  time  and  does  not  imme 
diately  appear  full  ripened  to  perfection.  The  church  is 
developed  by  degrees,  so  that  Almighty  God  constantly  gives 
timely  and  often  new  impulses  to  the  hearts  of  those  who 
are  her  heads,  in  order  to  govern  his  holy  church.  There 
fore  their*  commandments  may  be  the  impulses  of  God, 
though  they  are  called  the  ordinances  of  men.  But  if  they 
were  merely  the  commandments  of  men,  they  should  be 
obeyed  when  they  are  given  in  the  church,  which  God  has 
intrusted  to  men.  To  this  effect  are  cited  Luke  x.  1C; 
Mat.  xxiii.  3;  Ilcb.  xiii.  17.  If  also  the  heads  of  the 
church,  our  fathers,  came  together  in  the  unity  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,  and  established  certain  commandments,  then  were 
these  to  be  regarded  more  as  the  ordinances  of  the  Holy 
Ghost  than  of  men.  For  Christ  said:  "Where  two  or 
three  are  gathered  together  in  my  name,  there  am  I  in  the 
midst  of  them."  Their  commandments  and  ordinances, 
therefore,  are  so  obligatory  that  they  sin  who  do  the  contrary. 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  179 

Olof :  That  alone  is  sin  which  is  contrary  to  the  com 
mandment  of  God.  If'  bishops  and  priests  could  thus  bind 
men  in  sin.  there  would  be  no  diiference  between  the  com 
mandments  of  God  and  the  ordinances  of  men.  But  it  has 
been  proved  under  the  first  article  that  we  can  withdraw 
from  or  forsake  the  teaching  of  men. 

After  refuting  the  other  answers  of  Galle,  and  his  inter 
pretation  of  the  passages  quoted  from  the  Bible,  he  turns  to 
the  momentous  tenet  of  continual  impulse  or  inspiration  and 
the  church's  progressive  development.  Did  God  give  always 
new  impulses  or  inspiration  to  the  hearts  of  the  church's 
officers,  there  would  follow  an  awkward  rule  in  Christianity, 
and  the  Holy  Scriptures  would  have  been  given  in  vain ;  for 
what  need  would  we  have  of  such  old  writings,  having 
always  a  new  inspiration  and  teaching  by  the  prelates,  which 
are  equally  of  God  as  are  the  Scriptures,  which  we  have  of 
the  apostles  and  prophets.  It  will  also  follow,  that  the 
longer  Christianity  stands,  the  better  and  more  complete  it 
will  be  ;  so  that  now  it  will  be  much  better  and  more  com 
plete  than  it  was  in  the  times  of  the  apostles,  and  those 
immediately  succeeding,  and  that  the  prelates  in  our  times 
will  have  a  fuller  teaching  than  Christ  himself  or  his  apos 
tles  had — inasmuch  as  the  tree  is  better  when  it  is  grown 
than  when  it  is  small.  What  became  of  the  prediction  of 
Christ  and  his  apostles,  that  charity  should  be  burnt  up  and 
faith  be  scarcely  found  upon  earth  ?  And  how,  if  progres 
sive  inspiration  be  received  as  true,  shall  we  act,  in  case  the 
prelates  are  opposed  to  each  other  ?  How  shall  we  know 
which  is  right  1  "I  think  doctor  Peter  must  confess  that 
party  to  be  in  the  right,  which  best  agrees  with  the  Holy 
Scripture." 

The  fathers  came  often  together,  but  not  always  in  the 
Holy  Ghost.  This  appears  from  the  history  of  many  eccle 
siastical  councils,  especially  within  the  last  three  or  four 
hundred  years.  One  council  had  often  been  in  opposition 


180  HISTORY    OF   THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

to  another.  There  is,  therefore,  but  loose  ground  for  build 
ing  on  their  ordinances. 

The  fourth  question  was :  "  Whether  they  have  power  to 
separate  any  one  from  God,  as  a  member  cut  off  from  God's 
church,  and  to  wake  him  a  member  of  the  devil  ?" 

Doctor  Galle  to  this  question  only  replies,  that  in  answer 
to  a  former  one  it  has  already  been  shown,  from  Mat.  xviii., 
that  popes,  bishops,  and  priests,  have  spiritual  power. 

Master  Olof,  on  the  contrary,  declares,  that,  as  the  church 
of  God  is  a  spiritual  church  in  the  Holy  Ghost,  so  that  lie 
who  has  not  the  Holy  Ghost  belongs  not  to  this  church  ? 
bishops  and  priests  cannot  take  the  Holy  Ghost  from  a 
member  of  the  church,  and  make  those  who  are  children  of 
God  children  of  the  devil. 

"\Vhen  with  the  word  of  God  one  Christian  comforts 
another  who  wishes  to  repent  and  amend,  he  looses  him  from 
sins,  not  by  his  own  might,  but  by  the  might  of  the  word 
of  God,  which  he  brings  to  him.  In  like  manner,  when  he 
reproves  another  with  God's  word,  and  the  person  reproved 
will  not  change  his  mind,  repent  and  amend,  he  binds  his. 
sin  upon  him.  The  word  of  God  binds  him.  Every 
Christian  can  use  this  power.  But  the  wisest  and  most 
judicious  are  chosen  to  exercise  it.  It  is  a  spiritual  power  ; 
extends  so  far  that  he  who  will  not  change  his  mind  or 
repent  may  be  cast  out  of  the  Christian  church,  "  so  as  not 
to  partake  with  other  Christian  men  of  the  precious  body 
and  blood  of  Christ,  and  none  shall  have  intercourse  with 
him.  Thus  is  he  also  corporeally  bound  by  an  outward 
punishment,  that  he  may  repent,  and  submit,  and  amend." 
In  support  of  this  answer  on  the  right  of  excommunication 
in  the  church,  reference  is  made  to  Mat.  xviii.  ;  1  Cor.  v.  ; 
2  Cor.  xiii.  "Doctor  Galle,"  says  Olof,  "might  have  had 
a  better  answer  than  he  has  given  to  this  question  from  his 
own  master  of  the  sentences,  Peter  Lombard." 

The  fifth  question  was  :  "  Whether  the  dominion  now  set 
up  by  the  pope  and  his  party,  is  for  or  af/ai/i.^t  Chr&tf" 


REFORMATION    IN    SWKDEN.  181 

In  his  answer  to  this  question,  the  champion  of  the  papal 
dominion  shows  a  special  want  of  decision.  The  question 
was  evidently  framed  to  receive  an  unevasive  answer,  and 
doctor  Galle  shows  he  does  not  know  what  proper  answer 
to  make.  Yet  it  seems  to  him  that  Christ  (Luke  xxii.),  when 
He  commands  the  chief  of  his  disciples  to  be  as  the  servant 
of  the  others,  did  not  forbid  dominion,  but  the  pride  and 
severity  which  unchristian  lords  practice  toward  their  sub 
jects.  Hence  St.  Paul  writes,  that  "  He  who  desireth  the 
authority  of  a  bishop,  desireth  a  good  and  gentle  office." 
Had  Christ  forbidden  his  apostles  and  their  successors  all 
dominion,  St.  Gregory,  who  was  powerful  and  rich,  and  yet 
meek,  mild,  and  benevolent,  would  be  condemned  for  dis 
obedience,  and  so  would  many  other  popes,  bishops,  prelates 
and  priests  with  him,  who  yet  will  be  saved.  For  twelve 
hundred  years  or  more,  from  the  time  of  St.  Silvester,  had 
emperors  and  kings,  lords  and  princes,  held  the  pope  as  their 
own  and  the  head  of  Christendom,  as  the  officer  of  Christ 
and  successor  of  St.  Peter,  and  reverenced  the  church  of 
Rome.  The  pope,  therefore,  called  them  his  beloved  sons. 
Wherever  this  relation  was  broken,  it  had  taken  place 
through  the  intervention  of  enemies.  He  could  not,  there 
fore,  find  that  the  dominion  of  the  pope  and  heads  of  the 
church  was  against  Christ,  when  it  was  properly  exercised 
to  the  praise  and  honor  of  God  and  the  salvation  of 
Christian  men.  To  the  spiritual  or  ecclesiastical  body  be 
longs  the  spiritual  office  of  teaching  and  the  authority 
which  Christ  committed  to  the  popes,  who  are  the  succes 
sors  of  St.  Peter,  since  he  said  to  St.  Peter  alone,  '  Feed  my 
sheep.' 

In  answer  to  the  question,  master  Olof  alleges,  that  Christ 
commanded  his  disciples  and  their  successors  to  go  and 
preach  the  gospel,  and  forbade  them  to  be  kings  and  princes ; 
hence  he  concludes,  that  such  a  dominion  is  against  Christ, 
is  anti-christian. 


182  HISTORY   OP    THE   ECCLESIASTICAL 

But  doctor  Galle,  in  his  answer  to  this  momentous  ques 
tion,  had  too  much  exposed  his  weak  side,  not  to  be  hit  by 
the  cut  of  his  adversary.  With  respect  to  the  passage  in 
1  Tim.  iii.  1,  Olof  with  reason  asks  him,  who  taught  him 
grammar,  when  he  makes  the  episcopate  or  office  of  a 
bishop  the  same  as  the  dominion  of  a  bishop,  and  work 
(opus)  to  mean  the  same  as  office. 

Master  Olof  then  combats  the  singular  proof  offered  by 
Galle  from  the  example  of  Gregory  and  others.  "  Heaven 
and  earth  may  pass  away,  but  the  word  of  God  remains 
sure,  though  the  example  not  only  of  Gregory  and  other 
popes  and  bishops,  equally  sure,  though  the  whole  world 
and  all  creatures  stood  in  opposition.  Who  has  taught  him 
that  the  word  of  God  must  give  way  to  the  acts  and  exam 
ples  of  weak  men?  I  thought  that  the  actions  of  men 
should  be  judged  as  right  or  wrong  according  to  the  word 
of  God,  and  not  that  the  word  of  God  should  be  judged 
according  to  the  actions  of  men."  To  Galle's  remark,  that 
the  dominion  of  the  pope  and  others  had  stood  for  twelve 
hundred  years  or  more,  Olof  replies  :  "  The  words  of  God 
which  say  that  the  office  of  a  bishop  is  not  a  dominion,  are 
still  older  than  twelve  hundred  years,  although  the  dominion 
now  upheld  by  the  pope  and  bishops,  is  not  as  old  as  doctor 
Peter  says.  Neither  does  the  strength  of  its  position  depend 
upon  how  old  a  thing  it  is,  as  upon  how  right  it  is.  The  devil 
is  old,  and  yet  he  is  not  the  better  for  it.  The  longer  an 
unrighteous  dominion  lasts,  the  worse  it  is.  Through  the 
privileges  granted  by  emperors  and  princes,  the  pope  has 
acquired  the  means  of  lifting  himself  above  them ;  and  it  is 
well  nigh  come  to  pass,  that  they  must  fall  down  and  kiss 
his  feet.  The  pope  with  his  crew  has  left  off  to  feed 
the  flock  of  Christ,  and  has  for  many  hundred  years 
milked,  shorn  and  slaughtered  them,  and  shown  himself  to 
to  be  a  wolf  and  not  a  good  shepherd.  May  God  forgive 
it." 


REFORMATION   IN    SWEDEN.  183 

The  sixth  question  was :  "  Whether  there  be  any  oilier 
service  of  God  than  to  keep  His  commandments.  Are  human 
devices  of  the  same  type,  God  not  having  enjoined  them?" 

Doctor  Galle  answers,  that  there  is  no  other  service  of 
God  than  to  keep  his  commandments.  What  men  are  to  do 
for  salvation  is  comprised  in  the  ten  commandments.  There 
also  is  to  be  found  the  worship  of  God ;  the  inward,  which  is 
Christian  faith,  and  which,  consisting  in  trust  in  God's 
mercy  and  the  love  of  him  above  all  things,  is  contained  in 
the  first  commandment.  The  outward  worship  of  God, 
which  is  to  evince  the  soul's  inward  godliness,  consists  in 
praying  with  the  mouth,  singing  or  reading  the  seven  horse 
canonicse,  going  to  church,  hearing  mass  and  preaching, 
falling  on  the  knees,  smiting  the  breast,  taking  holy  water, 
burning  a  candle  and  the  like,  and  is,  with  the  duty  of  keep 
ing  Sunday  holy,  to  be  found  in  the  third  commandment. 

It  was  expected  of  master  Olof,  that  he,  like  his  adversary, 
would  regard  the  necessary  manifestation  of  the  inward  in 
the  outward  worship  of  God.  But  he  addresses  himself 
instead,  to  oppose  the  merit  of  adding  the  latter  to  the 
former.  He  remarks,  that  all  the  commandments  which 
relate  to  outward  acts  have  their  completion  in  love  to  our 
neighbor.  "  For  as  God  is  a  Spirit,  and  will  be  worshiped 
and  loved  in  the  spirit,  he  commands  no  corporeal  service 
of  us,  but  he  expects  this  of  us  in  regard  to  our  neighbor  ;  so 
that  when  we  do  good  to  our  neighbor,  we  keep  God's  com 
mandment  and  serve  him.  Thus,  whatever  we  do  in  his 
name,  for  the  welfare  of  our  neighbor,  is  accounted  as  the 
worship  of  God — as  are  the  works  which  men  do  for  wife 
and  children,  and  children  for  their  parents."  He  reproves 
Galle  for  including  in  God's  commandments  what  does  not 
belong  to  them,  as  reading  and  singing  the  canonical  hours, 
using  holy  water,  and  the  like. 

The  seventh  question  was :  "  Whether  men  can  be  saved 
on  account  of  their  merits,  or  of  God's  mere  grace  and  mercy  ?" 


t 
184  HISTORY    OF    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

In  the  answer  to  this  question,  Galle  and  Olof  were  in 
greater  concord  than  in  any  other.  Doctor  Peter  alleges  that 
God  makes  man  capable  of  good  works  through  His  grace, 
by  which  He  moves  the  free  will  of  man,  and  for  these  good 
works  gives  him  a  reward,  which  thus  is  obtained  of  God's 
mercy  and  pity.  Master  Olof  comes,  on  the  basis  of  many 
passages  of  Scripture  (Rom.  vi.  23  ;  Eph.  ii.  8),  to  the  same 
conclusion,  that  salvation  cannot  be  gained  through  our 
service  or  merit,  because  then  in  vain  did  Christ  suffer  death. 
When  men  gain  reward  for  good  works,  they  gain  it  because 
God  himself  bestows  it  on  their  free  heart  and  will.  God 
who  gives  His  favor  to  good  works,  gives  also  the  good  heart 
and  will  for  such  works. 

It  is  remarkable,  that  master  Olof,  in  this  answer,  does 
not  aim  to  develope  the  relation  between  faith  and  good 
works.  He  had  just  before,  in  his  answer  to  Paulus  Elice, 
with  clearness  and  truth  treated  of  that  topic.  Perhaps  he 
wished,  from  his  agreement  with  Galle,  to  give  the  more 
force  to  the  consequences  he  saw  could  be  thence  derived. 
Would  doctor  Peter,  he  says,  consider  what  follows,  he  would 
perceive  what  becomes  of  indulgence,  monastic  vows,  masses, 
and  the  like,  "  and  this  conclusion  strikes  down  all  the  pre 
tensions  of  the  priests." 

The  eighth  question  was:  "  Whether  the  monastic  life 
has  any  firm  foundation  in  Scripture  f 

Galle  answers  :  "  Samuel  gathered  together  the  prophets, 
their  sons  and  disciples.  That  they  lived  in  a  monastic  life, 
in  poverty,  obedience  and  purity,  is  proved  from  their  doing 
nothing  but  praise  and  serve  God.  Elijah  and  Elisha  as 
sembled  also  such  godly  men  on  the  hill  of  Carmel."  From 
the  book  of  the  Acts  (ii.)  it  appears,  that  when  the  faith 
began  to  be  preached  in  Jerusalem,  "  many  men  of  a  pure 
life  from  all  countries "  were  there.  The  words  of  Christ 
(Mat.  xix.  12,  21  ;  xvi.  24)  have  led  many  to  the  three  vows 
on  which  the  monastic  life  is  founded.  These  vows  remove 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  185 

the  three  hindrances  to  salvation  ;  the  desire  of  the  flesh  is 
removed  by  purity  of  life,  the  desire  of  the  eye  or  covetous- 
ness  by  poverty,  pride  of  life  by  obedience.  The  monastic 
life  "  helps  man  to  his  salvation,  and  is  a  short  cut  to  the 
kingdom  of  heaven."  It  belongs  to  the  evangelical  counsels, 
which,  in  Scriptures,  are  over  and  above  the  commandments. 
It  is  surprising  that  any  one  can  doubt  this,  when  the  mo 
nastic  life  is  found  existing  for  more  than  a  thousand  years. 
St.  Gregory,  St.  Jerome  and  many  others,  lived  in  cloisters. 

Olof  had  an  easy  task  in  refuting  his  adversary.  The  proph 
ets  did  not  live  in  cloisters.  They  had  wives  (2  Kings  iv.), 
and  monks  to  be  their  followers  ought  to  be  married.  The 
passages  quoted  from  Scripture  were  wrongly  interpreted. 
"  He  who  has  grace,  is  in  the  right  way  to  salvation.  He 
who  has  it  not,  is  in  the  wrong  way,  though  he  made  ten 
journeys  in  a  cloister."  And  "  none  can  say,  that  the  mo 
nastic  life  is  founded  in  Scripture,  because  holy  men  have 
lived  in  cloisters."  It  was  then  a  different  thing  to  live  in  a 
cloister  from  what  it  is  now. 

In  Scripture  there  is  not  a  syllable  concerning  the  monastic 
life  when  the  true  meaning  of  Scripture  is  given.  That 
meaning  and  its  development  are  furnished  by  Olof.  No 
monks  are  to  be  found  in  the  apostles'  time.  More  than  two 
hundred  years  elapsed  from  the  commencement  of  the  church, 
when  first  began  the  monastic  institution.  Monks  lived 
then  in  deserts  and  supported  themselves  by  their  labor. 
They  began  afterward  to  unite  in  monasteries,  for  which 
St.  Basil  wrote  rules.  These  cloisters  were  then  schools, 
and  the  monks  were  laymen,  and  could  quit  this  kind  of  life 
whenever  they  pleased.  Then  came  St.  Benedict,  and 
began  to  found  cloisters  in  Italy,  and  give  new  rules.  But 
in  time  men  gave  to  cloisters  goods  and  chattels,  so  that 
their  occupants  began  to  live  on  their  rents,  and  laziness  and 
ease,  more  than  the  exercise  of  piety,  were  the  motives 
which  enticed  many  into  cloisters.  Thus,  at  length,  about 


186  HISTORY    OF    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

the  twelfth  century  after  Christ,  arose  the  four  mendicant 
orders,  the  Dominicans  and  Grey  monks,  the  Augustinians 
and  Carmelites,  who  neither  worked  for  their  support,  nor 
lived  on  their  rents,  but  begged;  whereof  came  much 
roguery  and  lying  into  the  world. 

The  ninth  question  was :  "  WhetJier  any  one  has  or  has 
had  authority  to  ordain  in  the  sacrament  of  bread  and  wine, 
otherwise  than  Christ  himself  has  ordained  ?" 

No  one  has  authority,  replies  doctor  Galle,  to  alter  the 
sacrament  in  what  Christ  himself  has  ordained,  that  is  to  say, 
the  nature  itself  of  the  sacrament,  the  wine  of  the  vineyard, 
and  the  bread  of  wheat,  and  words  of  consecration  over  the 
bread  and  wine.  Other  things,  such  as  the  quality  of  the 
bread,  the  mixing  of  wine  with  water,  the  gestures  and  dress 
of  the  priest,  and  the  like,  the  church  regulates,  because 
she  has  a  tradition  of  them  through  the  Holy  Ghost,  from 
the  apostles  and  their  successors. 

With  Galle,  master  Olof  also  denies  that  the  institution 
of  Christ  can  by  any  man  be  changed.  But  when  Christ 
has  ordained  in  this  sacrament,  that  we  should  eat  his  body 
and  drink  his  blood,  Olof  inquires  how  the  pope  and  bishops 
can  refuse  laymen  participation  in  the  blood  of  Christ,  con 
trary  to  his  appointment  and  the  church's  practice,  observed 
for  many  hundred  years  ?  Christ  instituted  not  the  sacra 
ment  for  laymen  otherwise  than  for  clergymen.  Nor  has 
Christ  ordained  the  sacrament  as  a  sacrifice.  He  has  not 
said,  "  Take  and  sacrifice,"  but  "  Take,  eat  and  drink."  Christ 
has  once  offered  himself  for  sins.  If  we  offer  him  anew, 
we  crucify  him  anew.  But  if  the  Eucharist  or  Supper  of 
the  Lord  is  not  a  sacrifice,  "  doctor  Peter  may  see  on  what 
ground  prebendaries  are  instituted,  and  what  is  their  use, 
if  the  mass  is  not  a  sacrifice." 

The  tenth  question  was :  "  Whether  any  revelations,  said 
to  have  been  made,  are  to  be  the  rule  of  our  conduct,  other  than 
those  declared  in  Holy  Writ  ?" 


REFORMATION    IX    SWEDEN.  187 

Doctor  Galie,  for  the  solution  of  this  question,  resorts  to 
the  writings  of  Dionysius  the  Areopagitc.  It  is  the  law 
and  providence  of  God,  that  the  lowest  order  of  intelligences, 
for  the  sake  of  the  elect,  that  is  to  say,  for  God's  everlasting 
glory,  should,  till  the  day  of  judgment,  be  drawn  to  the 
highest  order,  by  the  intermediate  order,  the  order  of  angels. 
The  lowest  order  of  angels  is  under  the  supervision  of  the 
highest,  and  men  under  that  of  the  angels.  Thus  in  all 
God's  government  of  His  creatures,  providence  and  order 
are  maintained ;  so  that  Almighty  God  governs  the  lower 
by  the  higher,  and  thus  come  to  pass  many  revelations  of 
God's  secret  judgments  and  determinations.  Men  ought? 
therefore,  to  rule  their  conduct  by  them.  They  must,  how 
ever,  be  shown  to  proceed  from  God  and  the  good  spirit, 
for  the  devil  can  transform  himself  into  an  angel  of  light. 

Galle  then  alleges  some  proofs  of  these  revelations.  In 
particular,  he  brings  forward  two  striking  cases,  which  oc 
curred  through  the  spirit  of  St.  Jerome,  after  his  death. 
But  Olof  regards  the  narrative  of  these  revelations,  contained 
among  the  writings  of  Augustin,  to  be  supposititious,  and 
later  examination,  even  by  Roman  theologians,  has  ratified 
his  judgment. 

In  conclusion,  Olof  retorts,  that  the  truth  of  God  is  so 
completely  communicated  to  men  in  the  Holy  Scripture, 
that  they  need  no  more  for  salvation.  To  seek  for  further 
revelations  is  to  run  into  the  snares  and  wiles  of  the  devil. 
It  might  be  that  some  revelations  were  true,  which  were  not 
found  in  Holy  Scripture.  But  it  was  safer  to  neglect  some 
that  were  true,  than  to  be  misled  by  the  false. 

The  eleventh  question  was :  "  What  proof  is  found  m 
Scripture  for  purgatory  ?" 

"  This  question,"  replies  doctor  Peter,  "  seeks  a  difficulty 
where  none  is,  a  knot  in  a  rush  where  there  is  no  knot. 
For  all  nations,  languages  and  men,  who  have  reason,  confess 
with  the  holy  church,  that  there  is  a  purgatory."  It  is  proved 


188  HISTORY    OP    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

from  Scripture,  Mat.  xii.  32  ;  2  Mace.  xii.  44.  The  sin  which 
is  forgiven  in  the  other  world,  is  not  forgiven  in  heaven,  for 
in  heaven  there  is  no  sin,  nor  in  hell,  for  in  hell  there  is  no 
forgiveness — therefore  in  purgatory.  It  is  still  further 
proved  from  the  teachings  of  holy  men,  for  proof  of  which 
assertion,  Gregory  of  Nyssa  and  Augustin  are  quoted,  and 
it  is  proved  from  the  practice  of  the  church  since  the 
apostles'  times,  of  which  evidences  are  produced.  The 
church's  prayers  and  masses  for  the  dead,  to  deliver  them 
from  pain,  are  a  proof. 

Master  Olof  again  replies,  that  in  Scripture  nothing  is 
taught  respecting  purgatory.  Mat.  xii.  32  is  cleared  by 
Mark  iii.,  in  which  passage  it  appears  that  a  distinction  is 
not  made  between  the  sins  forgiven  in  this  life,  and  those 
forgiven  in  the  life  to  come,  but  that  is  merely  a  phrase,  to 
express  that  the  sin  against  the  Holy  Ghost  is  never  for 
given.  The  narrative  respecting  Judas  Maccabaeus,  is  not 
to  be  relied  on.  The  book  in  which  it  is  contained  is  not 
considered  a  part  of  Holy  Scripture.  The  Scriptures  seem 
to  testify  against  purgatory,  for,  if  there  were  a  purgatory, 
the  death  of  Christ  has  not  done  enough,  does  not  suffice 
for  all  sins.  But,  upon  the  contrary,  it  is  said  in  Scripture, 
that  he  who  believes  hath  everlasting  life,  and  is  a  beloved 
child  of  God;  faith  makes  pure  the  heart,  and  in  death  all 
sinful  desires  arc  cast  down.  Now  they  have  unspeakably 
greater  torments  who  are  in  the  pains  of  purgatory,  than 
those  who  are  in  the  world,  whence  it  follows,  that  we  ought 
to  leave  those  who  here  in  the  world  suffer  grief  and  anguish, 
and  day  and  night  strive  to  help  those  who  are  in  purgatory, 
"and  indeed  follow  the  mad  behavior  of  some  among 
us."  If  there  were  such  pains  after  death,  Christ  has 
imperfectly  taught  us  charity,  since  reckoning  up  so  many 
works  of  charity,  he  omits  to  mention  the  acts  and  prayers 
by  which  we  might  alleviate  to  the  dead  the  pains  of  pur 
gatory. 


IN  SWEDEN.  189 


But  revelations,  the  opinions  of  teachers  or  doctors,  and 
the  usage  of  the  church,  Olof  regards  as  uncertain  witnesses, 
where  the  Holy  Scripture  does  not  hold  out  the  light  of  its 
instruction. 

He  considers  himself,  however,  not  able,  with  full  cer 
tainty,  to  deny  that  there  is  a  purgatory.  "  Not  that  we 
positively,"  he  says,  "deny  a  purgatory.  But  this  I  say, 
that  it  cannot  be  proved  from  Scripture.  I  leave  it  in  the 
hands  of  God.  He  knows  best  how  it  is  with  the  dead* 
It  is  enough  to  be  feared,  that  our  own  bellies  and  our 
covetousness  are  more  concerned  in  defending  purgatory 
than  the  charity  we  have  to  the  souls  that  are  therein. 
Purgatory  is  very  profitable  to  us.  It  is  a  part  of  us." 

The  twelfth  question  was  :  "  Whether  we  arc  to  venerate, 
worship  or  pray  to  the  saints,  and  whether  the  saints  are  our 
defenders,  protectors,  patrons,  mediators  or  proposers  of  terms 
of  capitulation  before  God?" 

Galle  finds  this  a  subject  that  admits  of  no  doubt.  The 
church,  which  is  directed  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  into  which 
Christ,  who  is  its  head,  daily  infuses  his  grace,  keeps  the 
festivals  of  saints,  so  that  she  may  praise  God  in  his  saints. 
Holy  men  ought  to  be  worshiped,  though  not  with  the  wor 
ship  that  belongs  to  Christ,  his  holy  cross,  crown,  thorns, 
and  whatever  else  is  peculiar  to  him  ;  nor  yet  to  be  wor 
shiped  as  if  they  had  the  power  to  create  or  give  God's 
grace,  but  because  they  have  the  grace  of  God,  and  the  peace 
of  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  and  are  our  helpers  and  mediators 
before  God.  God  can  indeed  hear  and  grant  our  prayers 
without  them.  But  if  he  heard  the  prayer  of  one  who 
prayed,  for  the  sake  of  Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob,  who 
were  then  in  limbo,  much  more  does  he  hear  the  prayers  for 
us  of  those  who  are  now  in  everlasting  joy. 

Master  Olof  admits,  that,  although  the  Holy  Scriptures  do 
not  command  us  to  worship  saints,  neither  do  they  forbid 
us,  provided  there  is  no  such  honor  given  as  that  which 


190  HISTORY    OF   THE   ECCLESIASTICAL 

belongs  to  God  alone,  and  that  we  may  praise  and  bless 
God  in  all  his  creatures,  so  even  in  his  saints,  that  is  in  all 
Christian  men  living  and  dead.  We  praise  God  in  his 
saints,  when  we  thank  and  honor  God  for  the  grace  and 
mercy  he  has  showed  in  his  saints.  But  that  the  saints  are 
mediators  between  God  and  us,  is  contrary  to  the  Scriptures, 
which  teach  that  Christ  alone  is  our  mediator.  It  can 
well  be;  that  they  pray  for  us,  but  this  we  know  not, 
and  we  need  not  know,  for  in  that  case  it  would  have  been 
written. 

That  Galle  should  esteem  the  cross,  crown  and  thorns  of 
Christ  worthy  of  higher  honor  than  the  saints,  Olof  thinks 
to  be  an  indiscretion.  "  Shall  a  beam  of  wood  and  a 
piece  of  iron  be  worthy  of  more  honor  than  the  highly 
favored  virgin  Mary,  mother  of  God,  and  the  other  saints  of 
God!" 

We  have  been  somewhat  prolix  in  the  examination  of 
these  questions,  and  the  different  answers  given  to  them. 
But  the  questions  themselves  show  more  clearly  than  any 
thing  else,  the  nature  of  the  contest,  and  how  the  armed 
champions  of  the  different  views  stood  toward  each  other 
in  that  decisive  hour.  Protestantism  undeniably  had,  apart 
from  the  strength  of  truth,  the  more  skillful  advocate  on  its 
side.  Galle  comes  forward  with  a  want  of  elasticity,  and 
with  lukewarmness,  the  consequence  of  his  reluctance  for 
the  controversy,  probably,  too,  of  his  age,  but  certainly  also 
in  many  of  the  questions,  as  in  the  fifth,  of  his  own  doubts. 
He  seems  to  have  wavered,  not  willing  openly  to  betray  his 
cause,  but  too  honest  to  speak  with  vigor  against  his  con 
viction.  He  threw  forward  the  naked  points  of  defence, 
that  they  might  pass  for  what  they  could. 

But  the  papacy  had  at  this  time,  if  we  deduct  the  men 
of  mediocrity,  who  when  great  principles  are  at  stake  do 
more  harm  than  good,  only  a  small  number  of  defenders,  and 
they  illy  wcaponed.  The  waxing  fury  of  the  onset  called 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  191 

forth  by  degrees  a  stronger,  and  for  the  times  more  adequate 
defence.  But  it  was  fifteen  years  later,  before  the  Roman 
church  could  attempt  to  recover  what  it  now  soon  lost  in 
Sweden. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  men  of  the  new  times  already 
showed  very  well  what  they  wanted,  and  took  their  measures 
with  acuteness  and  as  men  under  a  deep  conviction.  The 
king  was  won  to  the  principles  of  church  reform.  It  was 
now  a  subject  of  interest,  to  try  whether  the  constitution  of 
the  Swedish  church  and  kingdom  could  be  altered  to  a 
nearer  conformity  with  these  principles.  Upon  this  trial  king 
Gustavus  was  willing  to  hazard  the  crown  he  held  in  his 
hand.  It  could  not  indeed  be  seated  on  his  head,  before  the 
change  was  happily  accomplished,  which  it  was  seen  in 
volved  the  possibility  of  maintaining  it  there. 


192  HISTORY    OF    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 


BOOK  II. 


CHAPTER    I. 

THE  DIET  OE  WESTERAS  IN  1527— THE  TREATY  AND  ORDINANCES  OP 
WESTERAS. 

THE  summons  which  king  Gustavus  issued  to  the  estates 
of  the  kingdom,  to  meet  him  at  Soderkoping  in  the  beginning 
of  the  month  of  June,  1527,  foreboded  important  and  vexa 
tious  deliberations.  The  king  declared  himself  in  doubt, 
if  he  could  longer  be  able  to  retain  the  administration  of  a 
kingdom  overwhelmed  with  such  disorders.  In  conformity 
to  his  previously  announced  determination,  the  disturbances 
within  the  church  should  be  examined  into.  The  bishops 
were  charged  to  bring  along  with  them  two  or  three  or  more 
of  the  most  learned  men  of  the  chapter,  in  order  that  agree 
ment  might  be  made  upon  the  differences  respecting  faith 
which  had  arisen  here  as  elsewhere,  and  which  if  not  har 
moniously  settled  might  bring  danger  and  ruin  to  the 
kingdom.  Besides  the  nobles,  bishops,  and  canons,  were 
summoned  a  burgomaster  and  member  of  council  from  every 
market  town,  and  six  of  the  principal  men  from  every  dis 
trict.  The  assembly  had  the  character  of  a  council  both 
of  the  kingdom  and  of  the  church.  Parish  priests  were  not 
summoned. 

The  summons  to  the  diet  was  issued  in  Eastertide,  1527. 
About  fourteen  days  later  the  king  was  induced,  by  the 
disturbances  among  the  Dalesmen,  to  remove  the  place  of 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  193 

x 

meeting  to  Westeras,  and  the  opening  of  the  diet  was  put 
oft'  from  Whitsuntide  to  the  16th  of  June,  being  Trinity 
Sunday.  As  present  at  the  diet,  are  reckoned  129  nobles. 
or  persons  exempt  from  taxes ;  32  representatives  of  market 
towns,  among  whom,  however,  were  not  found  deputies  from 
Stockholm  (though  named  in  the  proceedings),  Kalmar, 
Upsala  and  other  towns  ;  105  farmers  ;  14  mountaineers  or 
miners.  The  church  was  represented  by  the  bishops  Hans 
Brask  of  Linkoping,  and  Petrus  Magni  of  Westeras,  the 
bishops  elect,  Magnus  Haraldi  of  Skara,  and  Magnus  Sommar 
of  Striingness,  two  chapter  men,  doctor  Peter  <yalle  and 
master  Henrick  Sledorm,  as  representing  the  church  of 
Upsala,  two  as  representing  the  bishop  aud  chapter  of  Wexio, 
and  the  chapters  of  some  other  bishops,  then  present.  The 
dioceses  of  Abo  and  Finland  had  no  representatives,  although 
they  were  summoned. 

It  may  well  be  imagined  with  what  strained  emotions 
the  men  who  belonged  to  the  different  parties  in  the  church 
would  there  meet,  For  the  Komishly  disposed  the  pros 
pects  were  threatening.  Bound  about  the  land  no  help  was 
to  be  accounted  of.  The  grand  duke  of  Russia,  the  natural 
foe  of  the  papal  church,  could  not  become  its  supporter. 
The  question  of  war  or  peace  with  this  neighbor  was  to 
be  a  subject  of  discussion  at  the  diet.  Denmark  and  Nor- 
wav  were  in  the  hand  of  king  Frederick,  inclined  to  Luther- 
anism.  If  he  had  not  yet  taken  any  open  steps  to  a  change 
within  the  church,  yet  were  the  duchies  of  Sleswig  and 
Holstein  already  reformed,  and  the  doctrines  of  Luther  daily 
gained  strength  in  Denmark,  while  the  city  of  Malino  in 
Scania,  had  declared  itself  for  them.  In  the  north  of  Ger 
many,  the  powerful  electorate  of  Saxony  was  reformed 
according  to  the  Lutheran  tenets.  The  landgrave  of  Hesse 
held  in  October,  152G,  a  church  council,  in  which  was  to  be 
a  disputation  on  articles  of  faith,  but  the  champions  of  the 
papal  faith  declined  to  appear  when  they  learned  the  con- 


194  HISTORY    OF    THE    KCOLESIASTICAL 

ditions,  that  no  other  proofs  were  to  be  offered  than  those 
from  the  Holy  Scriptures.  The  grand  master  of  the  German 
order  of  knighthood,  the  Teutonic,  had  revolted,  changed 
East  Prussia,  which  belonged  to  the  order,  into  a  hereditary 
dukedom,  and  married  the  daughter  of  Frederick,  king  of 
Denmark.  Above  all  moved  onward  the  doctrine  of  Lu 
ther,  and  in  many  cases,  nothing  but  the  strong  arm  of  tem 
poral  power  prevented  an  open  declaration. 

The  foremost  and  mightiest  of  the  princes  of  Europe,  the 
emperor  Charles  V.,  was  the  declared  foe  of  the  head  of  the 
Western  church,  the  pope,  and  in  open  war  with  him.  Of 
this  prince  no  active  aid  could  be  expected.  At  the  time 
the  diet  of  Westerns  was  opened,  tidings  must  have  reached 
Sweden  that  Home  was  conquered,  and  the  pope  in  prison, 
and  how  the  army  which,  sword  in  hand,  entered  the  city 
regarded  as  the  capital  of  Christendom,  had  mockingly  in  its 
license  proclaimed  Luther  pope.  How  the  Ciesar  designed  to 
deal  with  the  affairs  of  the  church,  could  not  with  certainty 
be  foreseen.  The  breach  between  the  emperor  and  pope  was 
so  sudden  and  unexpected,  that  it  might  be  predicted,  at  a 
time  which  defied  all  ecclesiastical  authority,  that  a  recon 
ciliation  could  not  be  effected  without  some  detriment  to  the 
existing  church. 

What  thoughts  the  condition  of  things  in  Sweden  must 
have  given  the  friends  of  Koine,  has  been  sufficiently  shown 
in  the  foregoing  book. 

But  those  favorably  disposed  to  Luthcranism,-  had  not  any 
.sure  expectations  of  quitting  the  struggle  with  the  laurels 
of  victory.  The  dissatisfaction  of  the  Dalecarlians,  result 
ing  from  the  king's  attempt  at  Upsala,  in  the  spring  of 
152G,  to  win  over  the  peasantry  of  Upland,  and  the  influence 
among  the  nobles  and  in  Gothland  of  the  men  attached  to 
the  papacy,  such  as  the  bishop  of  Linkoping,  the  bishop 
elect  of  Skara,  the  administrator  Thurc  Jonsson  and  others, 
might  give  strength  to  the  principles  opposed  to  the  Refor 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  195 

mation,  and  turn  the  decrees  of  the  diet  in  a  direction 
inimical  to  the  supposed  heresy,  and  favorable  to  its  suppres 
sion.  On  the  proceedings  of  this  day,  depended,  not  only 
the  fate,  the  culmination  of  the  star  of  the  new  teaching, 
but  the  liberty  and  life  of  its  proclaimers. 

The  result  was  uncertain,  but  of  inconceivable  importance  ; 
of  more  importance  indeed,  than  most  of  those  who  were 
members  of  that  assembly  were  aware.  It  was  for  our 
fatherland  one  of  those  moments,  in  which  the  judgment  of 
God  determines  the  future  of  centuries  in  the  destinies  of  a 
people.  The  question  was  not  merely  of  outward  inde 
pendence  and  welfare,  but  of  spiritual  freedom,  and  of 
the  direction  in  which  the  popular  mind  should  be  trained, 
not  merely  for  the  present  age,  but  for  successive  gene 
rations. 

Some  days  after  the  coming  together  of  the  estates,  king 
Gustavus  showed  his  determination  to  lower  the  importance 
of  the  bishops.  At  an  entertainment,  which,  on  the  20th 
of  June,  he  gave  to  the  deputies  of  the  people,  he  caused 
the  civil  members  of  the  council,  and  the  principal  temporal 
nobles,  to  take,  at  the  repast,  the  highest  places.  These 
had  previously,  both  at  the  council  table  and  in  society,  al 
ways  belonged  to  the  bishops,  even  in  preference  to  the 
administrators,  when  the  kingdom  was  governed  by  such. 
Now,  the  seats  next  to  the  nobles  of  the  second  class  were 
assigned  to  them  and  the  canons. 

This  omen  warned  the  prelates  to  prepare  themselves  for 
the  measures  to  be  pursued,  in  respect  to  the  project,  which, 
in  the  deliberations  of  the  diet,  was  to  be  brought  forward. 
They  assembled  the  following  day,  in  the  church  of  St. 
JEgidius,  with  closed  doors.  The  question  arose,  what 
course  they  were  to  pursue,  should  the  king  and  estates 
purpose  to  abridge  their  power  and  wealth.  The  bishop 
of  Westerns,  Petrus  Magni,  and  Magnus  Sommar,  bishop 
elect  of  Striingness,  declared  themselves  in  this  respect  to  be 


196  IIIsTOIlY   OF   THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

as  poor  or  as  rich  as  the  king  would  have  them  ;  they  had 
little  to  collect,  and  therefore  little  to  give  up.  Bishop 
Brask  of  Linkoping,  who  did  not  flinch  from  his  confidence 
in  the  establishment  of  the  old  order,  and  its  returning 
victory,  answered  thorn  with  passion,  that  they  were  mad 
men  if  they  so  acted.  If  the  king  by  violence  would  take 
anything,  he  must,  but  by  their  yea  and  good  will  he  ought 
to  get  nothing.  Thus  only  could  they  answer  for  it  to  the 
pope.  Many  kings  and  princes  had  formerly  undertaken 
what  Gustavus  now  wished  to  do,  but  they  had  been  branded 
with  the  thunderclaps  of  the  holy  fathers,  which  are  inter 
dict  and  excommunication,  so  that  churchmen  got  their 
own  again.  But  were  they  to  fall  away  from  the  pope,  who 
was  their  ultimate  refuge,  life,  anchor,  and  protection,  they 
would  have  fire  and  stripes  on  all  sides,  excommunication 
from  Rome,  and  little  better  than  slavery  here  at  home. 

The  irresolute  were  drawn  over  to  the  opinions  of  the 
more  firm,  and  men  paused  at  a  measure  which  had  too 
much  resemblance  to  bishop  Brask's  course  in  the  case  of 
archbishop  Trolle,  at  the  diet  of  Stockholm  in  1517,  for 
them  not  to  be  aware  of  his  schemes.  Those  present  offered 
protests  against  any  decree  which  could  import  violence  or 
wrong  to  the  church,  revolt  from  the  pope,  or  favor  to  the 
Lutheran  heresy.  These  protests  were  found,  fifteen  years 
after,  in  the  cathedral  of  Westerns. 

Had  Brask  been  equally  rigid  and  strong  in  open  and  un 
reserved  opposition  to  every  reduction  of  what  he  called  the 
freedom  or  privileges  of  the  church,  as  he  was  in  his  belief 
of  the  final  victory  of  the  papal  cause,  the  Reformation  in 
Sweden  would  probably  have  required  severer  struggles  and 
the  victory  been  dearer  bought. 

The  estates  were  assembled  for  the  deliberations  of  the 
diet  in  the  great  hall  or  dining-room  of  the  Dominican 
convent.  The  king's  chancellor,  the  archdeacon  Laurentius 
Andreas,  read  the  king's  address  to  the  estates.  In  this, 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  197 

mention  was  made  of  the  government  of  the  kingdom  and 
its  difficulties,  and  of  the  unjust  accusations  against  the  king, 
among  which  were  enumerated  those  that  related  to  the 
church  and  faith. 

These  accusations  were :  1.  That  the  monasteries  were 
used  as  quarters  for  the  troops.  The  necessities  of  the  king 
dom  were  the  occasion  of  this  act.  When  God  should  give 
the  kingdom  security  and  peace,  the  king  would  not  impose 
this  burden. 

2.  That  the  king  plunders  churches  and  monasteries.    The 
aid  derived  from  this  source,  was  applied  to  the  ease  of  the 
people,  by  advice  and  consent  of  the  council  of  the  kingdom. 
This  was  not  unreasonable,  since  this  wealth  belonged  to 
the  people,  who  jointly  bestowed  it. 

3.  That  the  king  pulls  down  churches  and  monasteries. 
This  was  not  true.     Agreeably  to  the  request  of  the  citizens 
of   Stockholm,    he    had  not    allowed  the    churches    in  the 
suburbs  of  that  city  to  be  thrown  down,  although  they  in 
terfered  with  the    siege  of  that  place.     The  monastery  of 
Gripsholm  was  the  king's  inheritance  and  property,  had 
been  built  against  his  father's  consent,  and  certainly  had 
not  been  a  monastery,  if  Sten  Sture  had  had  children  of  his 
own. 

4.  That  the  king  introduces  a  new  faith   into   the  land. 
The  king  was  falsely  accused  of  this  "  by  the  heads  of  the 
church  and  their  dependants."     The  king  had,  with  many 
learned  men,  both  within    and  without  the    land,  become 
convinced  that  the  crown,  nobles,  and  people,  were  in  many 
ways  cheated  and  oppressed  by  the  men  of  the  church,  who 
raised  themselves  to    be    masters,  humiliated    the    princes, 
nobles  and  people  of  the  country,  and  by  their  own  self- 
devised  forms  of  worship,   by  mortgages,   sales   and   other 
contrivances,  heaped  up  riches,  so  that  the  crown  and  nobles 
had  scarce  a  third  part  of  what  the  priests,  monks,  churches, 
and  cloister?,  had.     What  was  said  of  meat  being  eaten  on 


198  HISTORY   OF    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

Friday,  of  the  contempt  of  the  Virgin  Mary  and  the  like, 
was  a  mere  and  manifest  lie.  They  had,  as  all  were  aware, 
in  times  past  provoked  the  lords  and  princes  of  the  land, 
and  some  of  them  were  now  minded  to  do  the  same. 

The  king  Avould  confess  that  he  allowed  the  pure  word  of 
God  and  the  gospel  to  be  preached,  as  our  Lord  himself  had 
commanded.  He  had  offered  that  the  preachers  should 
argue  the  truth  of  their  doctrines,  but  the  prelates  of  the 
church  had  refused,  saying  they  would  abide  by  the  old 
customs,  right  or  wrong.  He  had  now  some  of  these 
preachers  present,  and  wished  their  doctrines  to  be  examined 
in  presence  of  all,  that  the  party  which  had  right  on  its  side 
might  receive  the  support  of  all,  and  all  such  dissensions  be 
done  away. 

5.  That  the  king  wished  to  have  no  priests  in  the  land. 
This  was  an  infamous  lie.  The  king  desired  to  die  as  a 
Christian  man,  and  was  well  aware  that  this  could  not  be 
without  teachers  and  priests  of  the  church,  to  proclaim  the 
word  of  God.  These  he  would  support  because  they  were 
worthy  of  it,  provided  they  fully  performed  their  work. 
But,  of  the  others  who  did  not  preach  and  did  no  service, 
the  king  wished  to  hear  the  advice  of  the  estates  how  to 
deal  with  them,  "  as  in  Scripture  it  is  not  found  that  there 
is  any  need  of  such." 

The  evils  which  the  king  reported,  and  of  which  he 
demanded  redress  from  the  estates,  were  comprehended  in 
the  answers  to  them  under  the  four  following  heads : 

1.  The  usually  disturbed  state  of  the  kingdom,  from  the 
many  insurrections  and  plots. 

2.  That  the  income  of  the   crown  was  so  impaired,  that 
the  dignity  belonging  to  royalty  could  not  be  maintained. 

3.  That  the  nobles  were  reduced,  and  always  obliged  to 
beg  help  from  the   crown,  because  the  greater  part  of  their 
wealth  was  swallowed  up  by  churches,  monasteries,  prebends 
and  the  like. 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  199 

4.  That  the  king  was  accused  of  introducing  a  new  faith 
into  the  land. 

•With  the  report  of  these  abuses,  the  king  put  forward  a 
project  for  their  redress.  The  superfluous  wealth  of  the 
church  should  be  restored  to  the  crown,  nobles  and  people ; 
the  bishops  should  give  up  their  castles ;  appeals  to  Rome 
should  be  forbidden;  confirmation  of  the  episcopal  office 
should  not  be^purchased  from  there,  with  other  like  methods 
of  redress. 

After  the  reading  of  the  king's  exposition,  he  turned  him 
self,  according  to  the  order  he  lately  established,  first  to 
Thure  Jonsson,  as  the  foremost  of  the  nobles,  in  order  to 
learn,  through  his  voice,  the  opinions  of  the  nobles  respect 
ing  the  proposed  project.  But  the  high  steward  begged  the 
king  to  allow  them  some  time  for  reflection,  and  left  direc 
tions  with  bishop  Brask,  who  now  declared,  that  they  who 
were  of  the  ecclesiastical  estate  had  promised  and  sworn  to 
the  most  holy  father,  that  without  his  consent  and  good  will 
they  would  undertake  nothing  in  regard  to  doctrine  or  any 
other  spiritual  matters.  They  acknowledged  themselves  to 
owe  obedience  and  bounden  duty  to  the  king,  so  far  as  was 
not  inconsistent  with  the  decrees  which  the  pope  or  a  general 
council  prescribed  to  them.  But  of  the  property  of  holy 
church  they  could  give  up  nothing.  The  extortions  and 
superstitions  which  bad  priests  or  monks,  with  commend 
ation  or  leave  of  their  superiors,  continued,  must  be  put 
down,  and  those  be  punished  who  practised  them. 

The  king  turned  to  the  council  and  nobles,  and  asked  them 
if  they  esteemed  this  to  be  a  proper  answer.  Thure  Jonsson 
and  his  allies  replied,  that  they  could  not  but  agree  with  the 
bishop's  opinion,  though  he  had  not  made  a  full  answer  to 
all  the  articles.  Then  Gustavus  declared,  that  he  could  no 
longer  be  their  king.  He  was  blamed  for  every  act  of 
necessity.  He  must  redress,  and  bear  all  the  grievances  of 
the  kingdom,  while  it  was  designed  to  put  over  him  monks 


200  HISTORY    OF    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

and  priests,  and  all  sorts  of  creatures  of  the  pope.  On  sucfo 
conditions  would  not  the  worst  spirit  in  hell  be  willing  to 
be  their  king,  and  still  less  any  man.  They  might  take  into, 
consideration  to  redeem  his  personal  estate,  and  reimburse 
him  what  from  his  own  means  he  had  spent  for  the  king 
dom.  Hereafter  he  should  abandon,  his  fatherland.  Upon 
this,  tears  burst  from  the  eyes  of  the  king,  and  he  left  the 
assembly. 

After  his  departure,  the  chancellor  invited  the  estates  to 
consider  what  counsel  they  would  adopt,  whether  to  close 
with  the  terms  of  Gustavus,  or  seek  another  head.  But  "no- 
one  ventured  to  utter  his  thoughts  aloud.  After  a  whis 
pering  parley  >  the  timorous  and  fearful  were  in  doubt  what 
to  do,  and  were  divided  in  opinion ;  but  Thtire  Jonsson  who 
on  going  home  struck  a  stroke  on  his  drum,  murmuring  saidr 
at  the  same  time  acknowledging  the  importance  of  this  day'* 
work  for  fatherland,  that  come  what  would,  no  one  should 
make  him  a  pagan  or  heretic  for  that  year. 

When  they  came  together  the  next  day,  there  reigned  in 
the  assembly  perplexity  and  a  Babylonish  confusion.  The- 
people  first  cried  out,  that  the  council  and  nobles  must  soon 
come  to  a  determination,  and  already  began  to  declare,  that 
when  right  and  equity  were  taken  into  account  king  Gus 
tavus  had  done  nothing  amiss ;  that  if  the  council  of  the- 
kingdom  did  not  soon  provide  a,  remedy  they  would  do  so 
themselves,  though,  perhaps,  not  to  the  satisfaction  of  all. 
Still  Brask  and  Thure  Jonsson  did  not  give  up  all  for 
lost.  The  chancellor,  Laurentius  Andreas,  wished  to  speak,, 
but  being  king  Gustavus's  man,  was  silenced  by  Tliuro 
Jonsson. 

Then  stood  up  the  bishop  elect  of  Strungness,  Magnus 
Sommar,  from  whose  sentiments  and  words  both  the  parties 
were  in  hope  of  stay  and  support.  He  was  in  favor  of  the 
Roman  church,  yet  without  approving  its  abuses  and  worldly 
pomp. 

The  bishop  made  signs  for  silence,  bogged  leave  of  high 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  201 

and  low  that  he  might  speak,  and  that  they  would  vouch 
safe  to  hear  him  patiently.  They  were,  he  said,  in  the 
utmost  danger.  He  besought  them,  by  the  death  of  our 
Lord,  to  reflect  upon  what  would  be  best.  Children  and 
old  men  might  alike  perceive,  what  would  come  of  abandon 
ing  king  Gustavus,  and  crowning  a  new  king.  He  thanked 
Thure  Jonsson  for  his  good  intent  to  protect  churchmen, 
but  feared  that  they  might  thence  receive  more  harm  than 
good.  Rather  than  be  so  protected,  as  to  bring  ruin  on  the 
kingdom,  they  would  bide  their  time  as  they  could.  The 
kingdom  was  beginning  now  to  recover  itself.  If  they  lost 
the  head  they  now  had,  its  enemies  would  not  long  leave  it 
in  peace. 

These  expressions  found  an  echo  in  many  hearts,  although, 
as  is  not  unusual  in  moments  of  agitation,  the  most  part  did 
not  venture  first  to  utter  them.  Now,  many  of  the  nobility 
rose,  many  of  the  other  estates  thanked  the  bishop  for  his 
speech,  and  declared  themselves  openly  for  king  Gustavus. 
It  was  now  remembered,  that  the  differences  with  the  king 
were  occasioned  by  matters  of  faith,  and  that  the  king 
demanded  a  reformation  of  the  church.  The  awakening 
spirit  reminded  them  of  the  king's  offer,  to  let  the  pro- 
claimers  of  the  faith,  pretended  by  its  opposers  to  be  new, 
stand  forth  to  answer  for  their  doctrines.  Olaus  Petri,  who 
followed  king  Gustavus  to  Westeras,  was  called  forward,  and 
in  opposition  to  him,  his  old  adversary,,  the  representative 
of  Upsala  at  the  diet,  Peter  Galle.  They  were  each  true 
to  their  principles,  in  the  choice  of  the  language  in  which 
they  wished  to  carry  on  the  controversy.  Olaus,  who  desired 
to  appeal  to  the  sense  and  judgment  of  the  people,  spoke  in 
Swedish.  Peter,  as  advocate  for  a  church  which  forbade 
laymen  to  meddle  with  controversies  of  faith,  made  use  of 
the  Latin  tongue.  After  speaking  an  hour,  he  was  obliged 
to  yield  to  the  clamor  for  him  to  speak  in  Swedish.  The 
disputation  lasted  long,  and  closed  the  meeting  for  that  day. 

0* 


202  HISTORY    OF    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

On  the  third  day,  the  burgers  and  farmers  began,  with 
murmurs  and  grumbling,  to  require  the  council  to  put  an 
end  to  the  confusion.  Many  of  the  nobles,  among  them 
Maus  Bynteson,  who  previously  adhered  to  Thure  Jonsson, 
desired  a  reconciliation  with  king  Gustavus.  At  last,  Thurc 
Jonsson  himself  gave  way  and  joined  them,  but  with  the 
declaration,  that  the  king  would  never  be  able  to  win  or 
force  him  into  Lutheranism.  After  the  estates  had  agreed 
to  comply  with  the  king's  demands,  L/aurentius  Andreas  and 
Olaus  Fetri,  who,  during  these  days,  were  spending  a  cheerful 
life  in  the  castle  of  Westerns,  were  sent  to  him  to  solicit 
him  to  resume  the  government  of  the  kingdom.  After 
many  refusals  and  renewed  entreaties,  he  promised  at  length 
to  present  himself,  the  day  following,  before  the  assembled 
diet. 

On  the  following  day,  therefore,  June  24,  1527, -the  con 
clusion  was  arrived  at,  which  at  once  altered  the  condition 
of  the  Swedish  church.  This  conclusion,  in  part,  fixed  the 
relations  of  the  church  to  the  civil  community  and  the  royal 
authority,  and  in  part  related  to  the  arrangements  within 
the  church.  The  former,  which  constituted  the  decrees 
peculiarly  proper  to  the  diet,  were  called  the  Treaty  of 
Westeras,  the  latter  the  Ordinantia  of  "VVesteras.  Their 
importance  demands  that  we  devote  to  them  a  closer  ex 
amination. 

1.-TIIEATY    OF    WESTERAS. 

To  the  exposition  of  the  king,  distinct  and  separate  replies 
were  given  by  the  nobles,  with  and  without  consultation 
together,  by  the  market  towns  and  boroughs,  and  by  the 
farmers.  The  council  of  the  diet  or  senators  issued  out  a 
common  determination  with  the  diet. 

This  takes  up,  in  the  order  given  above,  the  defects  and 
abuses  which  the  king  alleged  to  be  found,  and  the  means 
for  their  redress. 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  203 

1.  "To  remedy  the  first  abuse,"  license,  insurrections  and 
plots,    all  promised,  on    their  word  and  honor,  to    punish 
those  who  were  the  cause  of  such  rumors,  troubles,  arid  ruin, 
and  that  they  themselves  would  be  true  to  the  king. 

2.  In  regard   to    the  insufficiency  of  the  income  of  the 
crown,  it  was  determinined  that,  whereas  the  rents  which 
the  bishops,  cathedrals,  canons,  and  cloisters,  had,  came  from 
the  inhabitants  of  the  kingdom,   and  from  grant  of  those 
who  were  then  masters  of  them,  the  income  of  the  crown 
should  be  again  augmented  from  those  rents. 

For  diminishing  the  incomes  of  the  bishops,  there  was 
also  assigned  the  reason,  that  the  church  thereby  became  a 
worldly  power,  or,  as  it  said,  the  bishops  Avere  for  the  time 
being  too  mighty,  so  that  they  often  set  themselves  up  against 
the  lords  of  the  land,  brought  loss  to  the  kingdom,  and 
deprived  "many  good  men  of  life  and  goods,  as  happened  in 
the  time  of  archbishop  Trolle  and  many  times  before  his 
day.  The  estates  therefore  agreed  for  themselves  and  their 
successors,  in  order  that  the  kingdom  might  henceforth  be 
out  of  danger,  to  the  two  following  prudential  measures, 
which  together  might  be  the  means  of  strengthening  the 
crown  : 

(a.)  The  bishops  should  thereafter  not  ride  with  more 
men  than  the  king  permitted,  and  what  accrued  by  this 
deduction  in  their  collection  of  taxes  should  be  applied  to 
augment  the  incomes  of  the  crown.  This  might  be  managed 
by  their  compounding  with  the  king  for  a  certain  sum  of 
ready  money,  which  they  must  pay  down  to  the  crown. 

(b. )  The  bishops  should  assign  over  to  the  king  the  castles 
and  fastnesses  which  they  possessed. 

On  the  former  point  it  may,  by  way  of  illustration,  be 
remarked,  that,  by  a  law  of  the  land,  in  the  chapter  con 
cerning  the  king,  "  the  archbishop  might  ride  over  the  king's 
land  with  forty  horses,  a  suffragan  bishop  with  thirty,  but, 
not  more."  In  this  respect,  the  then  existing  law  had  given 


204  HISTORY    OF   THE   ECCLESIASTICAL 

the  bishops  a  prescriptive  privilege ;  but  the  ordinance  now 
passed  was  an  unlimited  right  in  the  king,  to  restrain  this 
privilege  of  the  bishops  as  he  might  find  necessary  for  the 
income  of  the  crown  and  compatible  with  the  security  of 
the  kingdom. 

The  pomp  of  the  bishops  was  a  burden  to  the  land  at  the 
time  of  their  visitations,  during  which  the  parish  priests  were 
to  provide  sustenance,  and  when  a  church  was  to  be  con 
secrated  the  parishioners  were  obliged  to  pay  a  tax.  The 
excesses  of  the  bishops  in  this  respect  induced  the  council 
of  Arboga,  in  1423,  to  put  a  stop  to  their  ostentation,  of 
Avhich  John  Magnus  had  lately  exhibited  a  proof.  King 
Gustavus  also  often  called  the  attention  of  the  clergy  and 
people  to  the  relief  they  experienced  from  the  reduction  of 
the  number  of  attendants  on  the  bishops  at  their  visitations. 

Whether  there  should  be  such  a  thorough-going,  change, 
as  that  the  office  of  bishop  should  be  abolished,  and  the 
ancient  constitution  of  the  church  founded  upon  it  should 
be  shaken,  there  was  not  one  to  propose  as  a  question  of 
debate.  To  account  for  this  we  may  suppose  there  was  a 
disposition  on  the  one  hand,  in  carrying  through  a  change 
within  the  church,  to  avoid  the  necessity  to  which  the  Ger 
man  Reformation  was  reduced,  of  doing  without  bishops, 
whereby  the  church's  government,  both  theoretically  and 
practically,  was  placed  in  the  power  of  princes,  and  on  the 
other  hand,  to  avoid  the  theory  of  the  presbyterian  form 
of  government,  which  the  Swiss  Information  adopted.  This 
disposition  and  proclivity  were  a  peculiarity,  through  which 
the  Swedisli  church  took  from  the  beginning  a  principle  of 
development,  removed  alike  from  the  sacrifice  of  that  inde 
pendence,  which  followed  upon  the  advance  of  Lutheranism 
in  Germany,  where  Luther  soon  began  to  ordain  priests, 
and  from  the  too  hostile  attitude  to  the  civil  community 
and  power  which  the  Calvinistic  reformed  church,  like  the 
papistic,  assumed. 


KEFOKMATION    IX    SWEDEN.  205 

The  reformers  of  Germany  did  not  at  first  contemplate 
the  rise  of  occurrences,  which  should  compel  the  church  to 
do  without  the  episcopal  constitution.  The  reformers 
of  the  Swedish  church  thought  of  nothing  less  than 
of  placing  the  constitution  of  the  church  on  new  found 
ations.  The  conservation  of  the  episcopal  office  was  pre 
supposed.  Laurentius  Petri  declares,  in  the  explanation  he 
wrote  of  the  treaty  of  Westeras,  probably  not  long  after  the 
treaty  was  made :  "  The  office  of  a  bishop  is  of  necessity 
as  well  as  that  of  king,  though  the  former  can  be  exercised 
at  less  expense  than  the  latter,  for  the  office  of  a  bishop  is 
carried  on  by  the  word  of  God,  not  by  force. 
Therefore  as  both  these  offices  ought  to  be  maintained  by  the 
people,  something  is  taken  from  that  which  is  abundantly 
provided,  and  transferred  to  that  which  is  less  so,  and  thus 
both  fire  provided  for,  and  each  takes  care  of  his  own 
office." 

When  the  estates  of  the  kingdom,  in  1527,  exercised 
their  right  of  settling  the  incomes  of  the  episcopal  office,  in 
a  letter  of  the  council  of  the  kingdom  to  the  inhabitants  of 
the  land,  dated  June  24,  1527,  it  was  added,  that  none 
should  pervert  the  meaning  of  their  order  for  money  to  be 
had  from  the  bishops,  as  it  was  their  intention  to  maintain 
and  support  that  office.  "  We*truly  desire,"  says  the  letter, 
"  that  there  should  be  bishops,  but  not  so  powerful  as  to 
endanger  the  kingdom.  Their  riches  ought  to  be  diminished 
when  they  have  illy  acquired  them,  some  by  extortion  and 
self-advised  modes  of  worship,  which  God  has  never  com 
manded,  some  by  their  craft  and  evil  devices." 

With  respect  to  the  castles  and  fastnesses  of  the  bishops, 
it  is  simply  said  in  the  decrees,  that  they  must  be  delivered 
up  to  the  king,  but  in  the  letter  of  the  council  it  is  added, 
that  the  king  may  take  them,  till  the  castles  of  the  crown 
be  rebuilt,  the  reason  being  given  that  the  castles  of  the 
crown  were  partly  decayed,  partly  in  ruins.  The  opinion 


20G  HISTOKY    OF    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

of  the  nobles  agrees  with  the  letter  of  the  council.  The 
burghers,  and  men  of  the  market  towns,  propose  that  the 
bishops  should  relinquish  their  fortified  castles  to  the  king, 
till  those  of  the  crown  be  rebuilt.  The  farmers  express 
themselves  to  the  effect  of  relinquishing  the  castles  as  a  loan 
to  the  crown :  "  they  agree  that  the  king  may  take  them  as 
a  loan,  and  use  them  till  the  kingdom  can  come  to  a  better 
condition,  and  the  people,  who  are  so  exhausted,  recover 
themselves!  again." 

It  appears  as  if  it  were  not  seen  that  there  was  a  necessity 
for  the  security  of  the  kingdom  against  a  too  powerful 
hierarchy,  to  take  from  the  bishops  their  castles  and  fortifi 
cations.  But,  at  the  diet  of  Striingness,  in  1529,  king 
Gustavus  declares,  that  their  transfer  to  the  king  was  neces 
sary,  because  they  were  often  a  protection  for  rebels,  adding, 
however,  that  they  must  be  in  possession  of  the  crown  at  least 
till  its  own  were  rebuilt.  Laurentius  Petri  gives  the  same 
reason,  and  any  restitution  of  them  was  never  afterward 
proposed,  probably  because  a  strict  inquiry  would  have  had 
a  similar  result. 

The  rents  of  the  cathedrals  and  canons  \vere,  according 
to  the  treaty,  to  be  dealt  with  in  the  same  manner  as  those 
of  the  bishops.  "  When  it  was  deliberated,  what  was 
required  for  their  support,  it  was  concluded  that  the  king 
might  help  himself  to  what  was  superHous  in  their  rents." 

This  conclusion  was  in  expression  conformable  to  the 
answer  of  the  nobles.  The  citizens  and  men  from  the  hills, 
declared  on  the  whole  of  this  question,  merely  in  general 
terms,  that  in  regard  to  the  rents  of  the  crown  and  nobles, 
as  the  churches  and  cloisters  had  lowered,  so  they  must 
augment  them.  The  farmers  still  more  avoided  a  decided 
answer.  They  said  that  they  left  the  question  of  improving 
the  incomes  of  the  crown  to  the  king  and  council,  and  were 
willing  to  acquiesce  in  what  those  should  determine. 

Of  the  canons,  Laurentius  Petri,  in  hi:?  exposition  of  the 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  207 

treaty,  expressed  himself  in  correspondence  with  the  general 
views  in  matters  relating  to  the  king.  The  office  was  not 
so  necessary  as  that  of  the  bishops.  It  was  instituted  to 
strengthen  the  bishop  in  his  office,  and  for  the  purpose  of 
superintending  with  him  the  affairs  of  the  diocese.  The 
office  of  a  bishop  rests  on  the  word  of  God  ;  canons  are  only 
useful  as  they  are  learned  and  experienced  in  the  Scriptures. 
There  was  no  need  of  so  many  as  formerly.  They  should 
give  attention  chiefly  to  the  word  of  God,  and  not  so  much 
to  the  administration  of  justice,  trials  and  jurisdiction. 
Canons  were  designed  merely  for  masses,  celebrations,  and 
the  like,  and  arose  from  man's  device  and  not  from  God's 
word. 

In  regard  to  the  rents  of  the  cloisters,  it  was  decided,  that  as, 
in  the  cloisters  supported  by  rents,  there  had  been  for  a  long 
time  a  feeble  regimen,  because  they  had  weak  administrators, 
and  as  the  buildings  were  decayed  and  the  property  wasted, 
the  king  be,  therefore,  empowered  to  place  over  each  of  them 
a  knight,  who  should  allow  their  tenants  an  honest  support, 
and  keep  the  cloister  in  repair.  Out  of  the  surplus  rents, 
he  was  to  do  service  to  the  king,  in  the  manner  his  majesty 
saw  fit.  The  bishops  should  neither,  by  quartering  on  them 
nor  by  fines,  burden  the  tenantry  of  the  cloisters,  nor  them 
selves  meddle  with  them.  When  the  consecration  o£  one 
of  these  monasteries  took  place,  the  bishops  were  not  to 
come  there  with  a  larger  train  than  was  allowed*  to  men  of 
their  order. 

This  decree  is,  like  the  former,  in  full  agreement  with  the 
opinion  of  the  nobles,  in  which,  however,  nothing  is  men 
tioned  of  the  decay  of  the  cloisters  and  the  weak  adminis 
trators.  The  train  of  the  bishops  on  their  visits  to  monas 
teries,  it  was  proposed  by  the  nobles,  should  be  limited  to  six 
or  eight  persons.  The  nobles  also  propose,  that  the  pre 
bends  of  cloisters  should  be  treated  like  other  prebends,  and 
hospitals  in  like  manners  provided  the  sick  were  there 


208  HISTORY    OF    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

maintained,  "especially  those  who  were  injured  in  defence 
of  the  kingdom."  ' 

The  farmers  passed  their  resolution  that  the  cloisters 
should  keep  open  house,  but  on  condition  that  good  men 
were  sent  there,  "  who  should  conduct  themselves  without 
noise  or  roguery,  enjoy  what  these  poor  men  had  to  give 
them,  do  no  violence  to  those  living  about  the  convent,  and 
in  no  manner  interrupt  divine  service  there." 

The  king's  declaration  on  the  treaty,  at  the  diet  of  Striing- 
ness,  in  1529,  furnishes  a  further  reason  for  the  arrangement 
now  effected,  and  for  the  disesteem  into  which  the  rent- 
cloisters  had  fallen.  The  cloisters,  he  says,  were  so  decayed, 
that  where  formerly  there  were  forty  or  fifty  brothers,  there 
were  now  but  four  or  six,  while  the  rents  were  as  large  as 
ever.  This  was  the  occasion  of  a  libidinous  life,  and  justified 
for  the  public  good,  a  watch  over  the  surplus  rents. 

The  measures  adopted  for  transferring  the  convents  to  the 
uses  above  mentioned,  or  at  least  the  surplus  of  the  rents  to 
the  king,  would  naturally  be  followed  by  their  complete 
decadence.  Laurentius  Petri  also  remarks  in  his  explana 
tion,  that  in  this  matter  there  was  the  less  difficulty,  because 
the  existence  of  the  conventual  system  was  built  on  a  sandy 
foundation,  and  could  well  be  dispensed  with  by  all. 

3.  To  redress  the  third  abuse,  the  poverty  of  the  nobility, 
it  was  agreed  that  the  king  and  nobility  might  appropriate 
all  the  chattels  given,  sold,  or  mortgaged  to  the  churches, 
monasteries,  and  prebends,  after  the  time  king  Charles  Can- 
uteson  inventoried  the  same  ;  provided  that  the  goods  bought 
or  in  mortgage,  might  be  redeemed  according  to  the  longer 
or  shorter  time  that  had  elapsed.  No  one  should  take  his 
own,  till  he  had  proved  his  claim  before  twelve  men,  in  the 
presence  of  witnesses.  The  lands  on  which  rents  had  been 
paid,  should  be  returned  to  the  legal  claimants,  how  long 

*  This  is  probably  the  fust  essay  in  Sweden  toward  the  establishment  of 
a  house  for  invalids. 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  209 

soever  in  pledge,  with  the  exception,  in  Norland,  of  so  much 
of  the  land  as  was  necessary  to  the  decent  support  of  a 
priest. 

The  decree  was  in  conformity  with  the  expressed  senti 
ments  of  the  nobles,  except  a  stronger  requirement  respect 
ing  the  lands  that  were  to  be  redeemed,  and  some  slight  va 
riations  respecting  the  lands  in  Norland. 

The  ecclesiastical  law  book  from  which  we  quote,  because 
though  specially  meant  for  Upland,  it  was  generally  adopt 
ed,  provides,  (chap  2),  that  the  glebe  on  which  the  parson 
age  shall  be  built,  shall  consist  of  a  mark  of  land  for  the 
church  of  a  district,  and  half  a  mark  for  every  twelfth 
church.  The  glebe  shall  be  free  from  taxes.  The  farmers 
are  to  pay  tax  for  the  church  land.  If  the  church  requires 
more  land,  it  shall  pay  fall  taxes,  unless  the  king  gave  it  as 
land  free  from  tax. 

In  respect  to  the  support  for  the  table  of  the  priest,  the 
meaning  of  the  treaty  was  obscure  and  defective.  Lauren- 
tius  Pctri,  in  his  explanation,  gives  a  determinate  sense 
which  is  not  there  found,  but  yet  appears  to  have  been  prac 
tically  followed.  When  the  treaty  allows  the  restoration 
of  property  from  the  church  and  prebends,  master  Lars 
would  have  it  understood  of  the  establishments  which  have 
no  foundation  in  Scripture.  But  it  was  not  the  meaning 
of  the  treaty,  that  the  goods  should  be  taken  again,  which 
were  given  for  maintenance  in  hospitals  and  the  like ; 
for  in  the  word  of  God  it  is  required  of  us,  "  to  help  the 
poor  as  well  as  help  parish  priests."  Nor  was  it  the  mean 
ing  of  the  treaty,  that  the  support  of  their  table  should  be 
taken  from  the  priests.  An  exception  was  made  in  Nor 
land,  because  it  was  known  that  the  support  there  was  de 
rived  from  lands  that  paid  rent.  It  would  be  well  for  the 
practice  in  Norland  to  be  extended  over  the  whole  land. 
But  still  less  did  the  treaty  design,  that  the  lands  not  sub 
ject  to  rent  should  be  restored.  The  final  reason  for  his 


210  HISTORY    OP   THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

explanation,  Lars  finds  in  the  common  maxim,  that  in  this, 
as  in  all  laws,  we  are  to  look  to  the  intention  of  the  law, 
and  when  that  is  known  we  are  to  interpret  the  words  ac 
cordingly. 

The  whole  decree,  which  in  this  third  point  was  ratified 
by  the  treaty  of  Westcras,  relative  to  the  Swedish  church, 
and  which  Avas  alike  made  applicable  in  all  lands  where  the 
Reformation  prevailed,  called  forth  here  from  the  popish 
party  accusations  of  a  breach  of  faith,  since  it  violated  the 
sanctity  of  the  will  of  the  dead.  The  popish  church,  there 
fore,  preserves  her  claim  to  restitution.  She  must  have 
this  claim  if  she  will  not  allow  that  unrighteous  possessions 
are  in  the  control  of  the  community  or  their  representatives. 
The  claim  cannot  be  made  good,  where  the  changes  of  cen 
turies  make  it  impossible  to  find  the  property  in  the  hands 
of  those  amenable  to  restoration.  So  rest  the  claims. 

Protestantism  defends  the  decree,  and  justifies  it  on  two 
grounds.  The  first  reason  for  a  change  in  the  property  of 
the  church  rests  on  the  principles  of  Christianity  itself. 
Those  testamentary  grants  which  conveyed  property  to  the 
church,  were  in  a  great  degree  based  on  error  and  supersti 
tion.  The  intention  and  purpose  were  at  war  with  the 
truths  of  Christianity.  The  church,  which  did  not  allow 
of  masses  for  the  souls  of  the  dead,  because  these  masses 
were  a  noxious  superstition,  and  which  did  not  recognize  the 
value  of  alms  for  the  alleviation  of  the  pains  of  purgatory, 
and  which  did  not  recognize  gifts  to  ecclesiastical  establish 
ments  to  be  absolutely  a  good  work,  could  not  allow  to  stand 
within  her  borders,  in  full  strength,  a  constitution  or  state 
of  things  which  had  a  superstitious  or  delusive  foundation. 
Even  without  regard  to  the  right  or  the  wrong,  it  was  un 
avoidable,  that  when  the  order  of  things  to  which  these  es 
tablishments  appertained,  ceased  to  exist,  there  should  be 
no  longer  place  for  them. 

But  who  was  the  lawful  heir  to  the  property  which  could 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  211 

no  longer    be    applied    to    the  purposes  for  which  it  was 
given  ? 

The  only  valid  course  to  be  pursued  was,  that  the  gift, 
or  thing  sold  or  pledged,  in  the  two  latter  cases  according  to 
an  equitable  redemption,  should  go  back  to  the  giver  or  sel 
ler,  to  be  left  to  their  free  disposal.  These,  or  the  proprie 
tors  of  their  rights,  according  to  the  communal  law  of  in 
heritance,  acquired  the  right  of  birth  or  redemption,  which 
right  again,  according  to  the  same  law,  where  there  was  no 
legal  heir,  fell  to  the  community  of  the  borough.  The  in 
heritance  became  lapsed. 

In  the  last  named  case,  another  view  of  the  subject  pre 
sents  itself.  The  gifts  were  bestowed  with  a  pious  design, 
for  pious  purposes.  This  purpose  could,  in  the  manner  the 
givers  immediately  designed,  be  no  longer  obtained.  But 
it  was  possible  to  employ  the  gifts,  in  the  spiritual  changes 
of  the  times,  in  a  manner  most  nearly  corresponding  to  the 
intention  of  the  givers.  We  therefore  find,  both  within  and 
without  our  fatherland,  the  wealth  bestowed  on  a  vanishing 
faith,  transferred,  either  by  resignation  to  the  community  5 
or  by  the  course  of  events,  to  the  church  which  conquered 
that  faith.  So,  in  the  empire  of  Rome,  the  Christian  church 
received  the  patrimony  of  paganism. 

Fol*  recalling  its  property  from  the  church,  there  was  still 
another  reason,  on  the  part  of  the  state.  The  community, 
with  respect  to  the  basis  on  which  it  seemed  to  rest,  had  lost 
its  stability.  The  excess  of  the  church's  wealth  occasioned 
a  correspondent  weakness  in  the  crown  and  nobility.  These 
gifts  were  not  legal  if  they  weakened  the  basis  of  society  ; 
the  state  must  possess  the  right  of  enforcing  the  sanctity  of 
the  condition  of  its  own  stability  ;  the  church  must  submit  to 
that  change  in  the  possession  and  use  of  its  wealth,  which 
restored  the  lost  equilibrium.  During  the  two  previous 
centuries,  but  especially  after  the  bishops  obtained  worldly 
power  which  induced  them,  either  for  a  cause,  or  from 


212  HISTORY    OF   THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

party  passion,  to  oppose  the  king,  and  exercised  this  power, 
as  did  John  Bengtsson  Oxenstjerna  and  Ketil  Vase,  a 
change  had  been  urged  and  kept  in  view  throughout  Swe 
den.  The  diet  of  "Westerns  carried  into  execution  what, 
nearly  eighty  years  before,  king  Charles  VIII.  desired,  and 
in  1453  and  1454,  attempted  to  carry  through. 

When  the  treaty  of  Westerns  only  declared,  that  the  pure 
word  of  God  might  be  preached  in  the  land,  but  did  not  de 
cide  which  of  the  contending  parties  was  right — when  it 
only  pre-supposed  that  the  church  had,  or  claimed  for  itself, 
the  truth — it  did  not  commit  itself  by  a  transfer  of  the 
church's  property  to  the  upholding  or  promotion  of  super 
stition  and  error.  It  treated  of  and  decided  only  the  ques 
tion  of  the  inevitable  necessity  there  was  for  putting  the 
state  and  civil  condition  of  the  country  in  order.  But  cer 
tainly  the  decree  silently  implied  the  supposition,  that  this 
wealth  was  for  the  church  dispensable,  only  so,  however, 
that  she  became  poorer,  not  so  that  the  objects  of  its  estab 
lishments  and  appointments  should  wholly  disappear. 

The  restitution  to  the  heir,  of  property  exempt  from 
taxes,  was  limited  to  the  period  after  the  inquisition  of  king 
Charles  VIIL  Whatever  was  from  that  period  given  to  re 
ligious  establishments,  was  considered  within  the  memory 
of  man,  and  the  heir  could  reclaim  it  if  the  givers  them 
selves  were  not  living.  But  the  older  establishments  were 
to  remain  undisturbed,  and  there  was  the  strong  reason  for 
not  taking  from  the  church  what  it  was  allowed  to  retain 
under  the  former  inquisition,  that  other  principles  were  not 
professed  than  those  prevalent  in  king  Charles'  time. 

But  the  taxable  land  was  also  another  point  for  consider 
ation,  the  church  claiming  exemption  from  taxes  for  all  its 
property.  The  giving  away  of  such  lands  wras  an  embezzle 
ment  of  the  rights  of  the  crown  and  people.  The  individual 
giver,  when  giving  the  property  to  the  church,*  withdrew  it 
trom  taxes  to  the  crown,  and  thereby  .laid  a  great  bur- 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  213 

den  on  his  fellow-citizens.  On  the  contrary,  from  the  ne 
cessary  equipments  for  war,  the  lands  exempt  from  taxes 
were  not  excused,  and  this  was,  besides,  a  personal  service. 

The  treaty  of  Westcras,  places  the  decree  solely  upon  the 
ground  of  the  necessities  of  the  state.  Laurcntius  Petri, 
also,  in  his  explanation,  takes  the  view,  that  if  there  were 
no  outwardly  constraining  motive,  the  property  ought  to  be 
left  with  the  church,  but  be  more  fitly  employed.  There 
being  no  demands  made  on  the  property  of  the  nobility,  was 
occasioned  by  the  conviction  of  their  poverty.  Had  this 
not  been  the  case,  it  would  have  been  necessary  to  consider 
how  best  to  deal  with  this  property.  The  gifts  to  the 
church  were  doubtless  made  with  a  good  intention  ;  givers 
purposed  to  serve  God  and  his  good  pleasure,  although  they 
did  not  properly  understand  what  the  pleasure  of  God  is. 
In  the  measure  adopted,  the  good  intention  was  carried  into 
effect,  not  indeed  in  the  manner  thought  of  by  the  givers, 
but  according  to  the  word  of  God  now  better  understood. 

4.  With  respect  to  the  accusation  against  the  king,  of  in 
troducing  a  new  faith  into  the  land,  both  parties  had,  in 
compliance  with  the  wish  of  the  estates,  disputed  in  their 
presence.  And  as  the  estates  learned  neither  from  the  dis 
putation  nor  from  the  preachers  who  were  considered  pro- 
claimers  of  the  new  faith,  anything  else  than  that  the  latter 
had  good  reasons,  and  taught  nothing  but  God's  word,  the 
estates  engaged,  that  each,  in  his  place,  would  seek  to 
quiet  the  clamor  raised  in  this  respect  against  the  king, 
and  would  assist  in  punishing  those  who  caused  it.  "  And 
they  prayed  all,  that  God's  word  might  everywhere  in  the  king-  I 
dom  be  purely  preached.  " 

The  several  opinions  of  the  estates  as  given,  were  :  of  the 
nobles,  that  as  the  king  offered  that  the  preachers  of  the 
new  faith  should  stand  forth  to  answer  for  their  doctrine,  it 
was  to  be  observed,  if  their  adversaries  would  not  or  could 
not  convict  them  of  error,  that  they  had  not  reason  on  their 


214  HISTORY    OF   THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

side  who  spread  the  report  of  a  new  faith  being  introduced. 
Wherefore,  each  of  the  nobles  pledged  himself  to  quiet  this 
rumor,  and  desired  "  the  pure  word  of  God  to  be  preached 
everywhere  according  to  God's  command,  and  not  doubt 
ful  tales,  human  devices,  and  fables,  as  hitherto  had  been  too 
much  the  case,  and  that  the  good  old  Christian  customs 
should  be  countenanced."  The  men  of  the  market  towns 
and  of  the  hills,  said  this  subject  of  the  new  faith  was 
beyond  their  understanding ;  but  they  wished  to  know  in 
what  lay  the  difference,  which  party  had  the  right,  and  had 
willingly  listened  to  a  disputation  thereof,  and  desired  that 
what  is  right  might  be  preached.  The  farmers  or  peasants 
acknowledged  that  many  idle  reports  had  been  spread  among 
them  respecting  the  new  faith  or  learning  as  it  was  called, 
but  as  it  surpassed  their  small  understanding  they  referred 
the  case  to  those  good  men  who  are  highly  learned  and  well 
experienced  in  the  Scriptures,  bishops,  prelates,  and  others, 
to  critically  investigate  what  was  right  or  wrong.  At  the 
same  time  they  would  earnestly  beg  of  the  king  to  allow 
those  whom  this  matter  most  concerned,  to  meet  in  their 
presence,  that  they  might  be  properly  instructed  in  what 
was  right  and  Christian. 

These  answers  of  the  respective  estates  do  not  make  men 
tion  of  the  disputation  which  had  already  taken  place 
between  doctor  Peter  and  master  Olof.  The  decree  in  com 
mon,  both  speaks  of  its  having  already  taken  place,  and 
"  consents,"  that  the  king  should  let  it  take  place.  It  seems 
from  this,  as  if  there  had  been  another  conference  on  the 
subject  of  the  faith,  although  it  is  not  mentioned  by  the 
chroniclers.  This  is  the  more  probable,  as  that  previous 
conference  and  disputation  acquired,  in  all  likelihood,  dur 
ing  the  confusions  of  the  time,  less  importance,  and  was  less 
remarkable. 

The  decree  of  the  diet  on  this  fourth  point,  was  a  recog 
nition  of  the  truth  of  the  evangelical  doctrines,  and  a 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  215 

requirement  that  they  should  be  promulgated  over  the  whole 
kingdom.  But  it  was  an  eminent  characteristic  of  the 
Reformation  of  the  Swedish  church,  that  it  did  not  place 
the  new  and  old  order  of  things  in  sharp  collision  with 
each  other.  The  name  Lutheran,  which  in  Denmark,  at  the 
diet  of  Odense,  was  as  freely  used  as  that  of  catholic,  was 
for  a  long  time  not  employed  in  the  public  transactions  in 
Sweden.  The  change  effected,  never  lost  in  the  minds  of 
the  Swedish  people,  its  property  and  quality  of  a  reformation. 
It  was  not  a  new  faith.  It  was  the  old  truth  of  Christianity, 
which  came  forth  purified  from  error.  Only  on  the  part  of 
error  boasting  itself  to  be  the  original  Christianity,  could 
truth  be  branded  as  a  new  faith.  "  Many  bad  customs," 
says  Lars  Petri,  "  had  arisen  through  those  who  ought  to 
have  preached  the  word  of  God,  and  when  it  again  began  to 
be  preached,  it  seemed  to  many  extraordinary,  and  they 
called  it  a  new  faith." 

That  the  pure  word  of  God  ought  to  be  preached,  was  here 
assumed  as  a  confessed  case,  and  not  the  most  inveterate  ad 
herent  of  the  papal  church  could  plead  anything  against 
this  position  of  the  Swedish  church.  But  it  was  not  declared 
by  those  adherents,  that  this  word  of  God  was  only  found 
in  the  Holy  Scriptures,  and  that  its  preaching  should  by 
degrees  cleanse  away  the  corruptions  which  had  crept  into 
the  church.  The  preached  word  was  not  wanting  in  effi 
ciency,  as  long  as  oral  tradition  was  nowhere  in  the  church 
recognized  and  established  as  independent  of  the  Scriptures, 
and  of  equal  validity  for  settling  the  Christian  faith.  But 
this  came  to  pass  for  the  Roman  church,  when,  from  15 G4, 
the  decrees  of  the  Council  of  Trent  gave  to  tradition  a  dis 
tinct  and  conclusive  authority.  Hence,  Laurentius  Petri, 
closes  his  explanation  of  this  point  of  the  treaty,  with  the 
following  weighty  sentiments,  his  programme  for  the  order 
of  reform  in  the  Swedish  church  :  "  In  proportion  as  we 
experience  the  gospel  to  be  preached,  we  experience  all  that 


216  11ISTOKY    OF    THE    ECCLESIASTIC  At, 

follows  from  the  preaching  of  the  gospel.  All  the  changes, 
therefore,  are  valid  which  are  made  in  accordance  with  the 
sense  and  meaning  of  the  gospel,  and  when  it  is  preached  the 
people  become  rightly  and  completely  instructed." 

The  estates  gave  no  obscure  declaration  that  they  regarded 
the  preachers  who  were  declared  to  be  heretics  by  the  hie 
rarchy,  to  be  preachers  of  the  word  of  God.  Who  should 
now  determine  between  the  contending  parties  ?  This  right 
was  left  to  none ;  but  the  ordinantia  intrusted  the  king  with 
power,  not  to  prescribe  dogmas  of  faith,  but  yet  so  far  to 
interfere  in  the  direction  of  the  church,  that  the  hinderances 
might  be  removed  out  of  the  way  which  could  obstruct  the 
preaching  of  God's  word. 


2.— T  HE    ORDINANTIA    OF    W  E  S  T  E  R  A  S  . 

Many  enactments,  which  in  part  were  a  necessary  conse 
quence  of  the  treaty,  in  part  were  considered  necessary 
improvements  in  the  church,  were  comprised  in  certain 
decrees,  which  are  here  termed  ordinantia.  It  contains 
twenty  articles,  which  for  more  easy  examination  we  shall 
consider  under  certain  general  heads.  The  most  important 
are  those  which  relate  to  the  power  intrusted  to  the  king  in 
the  affairs  of  the  church. 

1.  The  king's  title  to  an  inspection  of  the  official  conduct 
of  the  bishops,  and  his  right  of  nominating  to  ecclesiastical 
offices. 

The  first  article  declares :  "  The  bishops  are  to  make 
provision  for  the  parish  churches  when  they  become  vacant. 
But  where  they  provide  clergy  who  are  unfit,  manslayers, 
drinkers,  or  those  who  cannot  or  will  not  preach  the  word 
of  God,  the  king  may  inquire  for  those  who  are  fit,  have 
power  to  drive  out  those  who  are  unfit,  and  provide  the 
church  with  those  who  are-  fit." 


nEFOKMAHON    IN    SAVEDEN,  217 

ART.  20.  "The  prelacies,  canonries  and  prebendaries, 
shall  not  be  filled,  unless  the  king  is  asked,  or  unless  by  one 
who  is  satisfactory  to  the  king." 

ART.  19.  "The  bishop  may  ordain  no  one  to  be  a  priest 
but  one  who  can  preach  to  the  people  the  word  of  God." 

To  comprehend  this  and  the  following  enactments,  we 
siiust  compare  them  with  the  condition  of  things  which  pre 
viously  existed  in  our  fatherland.  We  limit  ourselves  to 
the  most  necessary  points  of  the  church  law  prevalent  in 
Sweden,  derived  from  the  general  canon  law. 

The  right  of  bishops  to  appoint  priests  to  a  benefice  was 
undent.  The  bishop  was,  however,  obliged  to  respect  the 
will  of  the  parishioners,  or  his  who  had  the  right  of  patron 
age  to  the  parish  church,  even  as  the  king's  will,  if  it  was 
the  king's  benefice.  The  bishop  was  also  to  inquire  into  the 
capacity  of  the  presentee. 

In  certain  cases,  at  least  if  the  bishop  refused  to  consecrate 
their  churches,  the  law  gave  the  peasants  the  right  to 
complain  of  the  bishop  to  the  king.  But  the  oversight  now 
conferred  on  the  king  left  the  emendation  of  the  church  in 
the  king's  hand,  as  it  was  not  settled  what  was  to  be  under 
stood  by  the  preaching  of  the  word  of  God.  For  nomina 
tions  to  the  episcopal  office  there  was  no  responsibility,  but 
the  king  could  immediately  exercise  his  power  and  reject  the 
man  opposed  to  the  views  of  the  king.  The  king  could  not 
remove  a  priest  from  his  office,  but,  as  all  promotion  in  the 
priesthood  depended  entirely  upon  him,  there  was  a  restraint 
thus  laid  upon  ordination  of  priests  by  bishops. 

The  high  species  of  episcopacy  thus  intrusted  to  the  king 
within  the  church,  might  become  both  dangerous  and  humil 
iating  if  abused.  Laurentius  Petri,  an  ecclesiastic,  desired, 
therefore,  to  have  it  regarded  as  a  mere  temporary  exigency, 
because  the  bishops  at  that  time  were  not  well  disposed  to 
the  evangelical  principles  and  the  word  of  God.  "But 
when  we  have  true  and  Christian  bishops  there  is  then  no. 

10 


218  HISTORY    OP   THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

need  of  this  article,  but  the  bishops  may  then  have  their 
rights  as  of  old." 

The  king's  right  of  nomination  to  prelacies,  was  in  part 
merely  a  ratification  of  what  already  existed.  But  it  was 
extended,  at  least  so  far  that  to  no  such  office  could  any 
nomination  thereafter  be  made  without  the  king's  knowledge 
and  consent. 

It  is  remarkable,  that  of  the  appointment  of  bishops  nothing 
was  determined.  The  king  appears  to  have  proposed  to  the 
estates,  to  put  a  stop  to  the  practice  of  the  bishops  to  seek 
confirmation  to  their  office  from  Rome,  and  send  their  gifts, 
imposts,  and  purchase  moneys  for  the  purpose.  The  men  from 
the  hills  requested,  in  their  opinions  at  the  time  of  the  treaty, 
that  this  custom  of  bishops  asking  confirmation  from  Borne 
should  be  abolished.  In  the  decree  itself,  however,  there  i* 
no  mention  made  of  the  subject.  It  appears  to  have  been 
taken  for  granted,  although  it  was  not  thought  advisable 
explicitly  to  say,  that  all  the  pope's  influence  in  the  church 
should  disappear.  The  old  practice,  therefore,  was  tacitly 
continued,  although  not  always  acted  on  by  Gustavus,  that 
the  chapter  elected,  and  the  king  confirmed  the  election. 

2.  The  king's  rights   in  respect  to  the  property  of  the 
church.     The   third  and  fourth  articles  of  the  ordinantia, 
repeated  the  decree  of  the  treaty  respecting  the  rents   of 
bishops,  cathedrals,  and  canons.     There  is  only  the  addition 
of  the  mode  in  which  the  reduction  shall  take  place.      Cata 
logues  of  all  the  rents  from  tributes,  tithes,  moneys,  butter, 
iron  and  the  like,  were  to  be  furnished  the  king,  who  was  to 
determine  how  much  should  be  retained. 

3.  The  king's  right  to  try  or  receive  suits  against  trans 
gressors  of  the  church  law. 

An  account  was  to  be  given  to  the  king  of  the  fines  for 
seduction  after  a  promise  of  marriage  (art.  5),  and  for  suits 
in  marriage  causes  generally  (art.  6).  Fines  for  adultery 
and  fornication  were  paid  to  the  king  (art.  17).  The  priests 
were  to  pay  fines  to  the  king  like  other  men  (art.  10). 


REFORMATION    IN    SAVEDEN  219 

The  eighth  article  prescribes  that  as  the  treaty  decided 
that  the  king  should  receive  all  suits  and  not  the  bishop,  so 
the  provosts  should  thereafter  travel  about  and  prosecute 
the  suits  which  the  bishops  were  wont  to  manage,  and 
should  give  an  account  to  the  king  of  the  moneys  received. 
Of  this  there  is  no  mention  made  in  the  decree  signed  by  the 
estates.  But  in  a  letter  of  the  council  it  is  declared,  "  Ac 
cording  to  the  proverb,  that  i  a  man  is  burdened  who  is  under 
two  masters,'  we  agree,  that  they  who  are  found  guilty  of  a 
breach  of  the  holy  days  and  other  offences,  pay  fines  from 
this  time  to  the  king  and  not  to  the  bishop."  To  the  same 
effect  is  the  opinion  of  the  nobles. 

The  two  masters,  of  which  complaint  is  here  made,  was 
a  natural  consequence  of  the  efforts  of  the  Roman  hierarchy 
to  acquire  temporal  power.  Instead  of  being  a  leaven  to 
pervade  and  renew  the  life  of  the  civil  community,  the 
church  placed  herself  without  or  by  the  side  of  the  state 
with  her  own  outward  legislation.  As  long  as  the  tem 
poral  power  was  kept  in  subjection,  as  long  as  the  com 
munity  was  theocratically  governed  in  the  spirit  of  the  Old 
Testament,  the  opposition  between  the  church  and  the  state 
could  not  disappear.  The  ecclesiastics  stood  apart  from  the 
civil  law,  and  laymen  were,  as  Christians,  under  another 
law  than  as  citizens.  Thence,  the  highest  condition  was  to 
escape  from  a  life  in  the  world.  The  priest  is  better,  more 
perfect  than  the  layman,  the  monk  than  the  priest.  Prot 
estantism  removes  these  sharp  distinctions.  The  perfection 
of  man  is,  unpolluted  by  the  world  to  labor  for  the  purifica 
tion  of  the  world,  the  civil  community  is  not  estranged  from 
the  aims  of  the  church,  the  legislation  of  the  church  becomes 
that  of  the  state,  what  is  criminal  or  wrong  in  the  one  is 
so  in  the  other  community.  There  is  no  need  of  "two 
masters,"  because  the  law  of  the  kingdom  avenges  what  in 
the  view  of  the  church  is  evil. 

It  is  here  presupposed,  that  the  citizens  of  the  state  are 
not  divided  as  members  of  different  churches.  In  Sweden 


220  HISTORY    OF    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

it  was  not  supposed  possible:  and  the  decree  that  the  fines 
which  it  was  a  trouble  to  the  bishops  to  impose,  should  be 
transferred  to  the  king,  was  an  acknowledgment  of  the 
sanctity  of  the  state  through  its  incorporation  with  the 
church,  the  former  taking  upon  itself  to  watch  over  the 
moral  regulations  which  the  latter  established. 

The  provosts  obtained  a  commission  to  receive  these  suits  ; 
but  when  they  had  not  sufficient  authority  to  call  them  in, 
the  king,  a  year  after  the  change,  caused  the  bishops  to 
receive  and  account  for  the  suits,  which  fell  under  the  class 
of  cases  belonging  to  episcopal  jurisdiction.  Others  wrere 
to  be  received  by  country  stewards  and  fiefsmen,  and  were 
no  longer  called  bishop's  suits,  but  were  classed  with  king's 
suits.  So  was  wiped  out  the  very  memory  of  "  two  masters." 

4.  Diminished  and  prohibited  suits,  and  other  sources  of 
income. 

Fees  for  marriages  and  churching  of  women,  burials 
and  the  like,  were  to  be  charged  according  to  a  law  of  the 
church  and  not  above  the  legal  sum  (art.  7).  Work  in 
harvest  time,  and  when  there  were  shoals  of  fishes,  or  if 
"  a  man  shoots  a  bird  in  the  forest,"  was  not  to  be  accounted 
a  breach  of  holy  day  (art.  9).  If  a  man  lie  with  his  sweet 
heart,  he  shall  not  be  punished  for  it  after  there  has  been 
between  them  a  right  marriage  before  God,  and  he  shall  not 
be  separated  from  her.  If  he  desert  her,  he  shall  be  pun 
ished  according  to  law.  The  custom  ought  to  be  abolished, 
that  when  a  priest  dies  the  bishop  takes  his  goods,  to  the  in 
jury  of  the  lawful  heirs.  Sick  people  shall  not  be  constrained 
by  the  priests  to  make  a  will  against  their  own  free  will. 

What  is  here  enacted  respecting  breach  of  holy  days, 
Laurentius  Petri  vindicates,  on  the  ground  that  even  a  law 
of  the  pope,  who  was  wont  to  be  strict,  permitted  work  in 
harvest  and  fish  seasons.  The  Swedish  chapter  of  church 
law,  before  the  Reformation,  makes  no  such  exception.  The 
condition  which  the  king  previously  made,  that  divine  ser- 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  221 

vice  was  not  to  be  neglected,  is  wanting  in  the  ordinantia, 
but  appears  in  the  king's  manifesto  for  direction  of  the 
country  stewards  and  fiefsmen  in  the  king's  suits. 

In  respect  to  married  persons,  it  may  be  remarked,  that 
betrothal  took  place  according  to  the  law  of  the  land,  the 
bidding  of  banns  and  the  wedding,  according  to  the  rites  of 
the  church.  This  point  was  thus  an  acknowledgment  of  the 
civil  marriage,  although  certainly  under  requirement  that 
the  church's  benediction  should  follow. 

Of  the  enactment  respecting  the  legacies  of  priests,  king 
Gustavus,  who  anxiously  guarded  the  rights  of  the  crown, 
soon  gave  his  own  explanation.  As  the  possessions  of  the 
priests  were  collected  out  of  the  rents  received  from  the 
peasantry  of  the  crown,  it  was  fit  the  legacies  hitherto  given 
by  the  priests  to  the  bishop  should  now  be  given  to  the 
crown.  This  did  not  become  law,  but  probably  was  the 
view  the  king  took  in  his  often-occurring  claim  to  the  in 
heritance  of  rich  priests. 

Of  the  more  than  twenty  cases  in  which  fines  were  paid 
to  the  bishop,  two  were  suppressed,  in  the  rest  of  them  the 
fines  were  paid  to  the  king.  But,  as  in  many  of  them,  the 
king  previously  received  the  suits,  so  their  amount  was  not 
diminished,  but  mingled  with  the  others.  The  chapter  on 
church  law  required  the  dead  body  of  one  guilty  of  an 
assault  to  be  consecrated  by  the  priest  in  the  house  of  the 
dead,  and  not  in  the  churchyard.  The  king  decided,  that 
"  the  dead  body  should  be  held  innocent." 

5.  Enactments  respecting  matters  reserved  for  the  judg 
ment  of  the  bishops. 

Open  and  public  confessions  were  put  upon  the  same 
footing  as  heretofore.  The  bishop  and  his  officers  were, 
however,  to  exercise  the  power  of  excommunication  with 
greater  caution  than  had  been  done  (art.  5).  Of  mar 
riage  cases  the  bishop  should  have  the  management,  as 
knowing  what  true  marriage  is  according  to  God's  law, 


222  HiSTonr  OF  THE  ECCLESIASTICAL 

and  whether  separation  ought  to  be  allowed  or  not  (art.  6). 
If  any  one  had  a  complaint  against  a  priest  in  a  spiritual 
case,  as  that  he  did  not  truly  fulfill  his  office,  did  not  preach 
the  word  of  God,  or  the  like,  the  complaint  should  be  laid 
before  the  bishop,  and  be  judged  by  him  (art.  10). 

According  to  the  king's  manifesto,  in  1528,  the  priests 
should  be  answerable,  and  pay  a  fine  to  the  bishop,  in  cases 
which  affected  their  office,  and  "  for  their  women."  This 
last-named  case  was  probably  placed  among  spiritual  cases, 
partly  because  the  question  of  the  concubines  of  priests 
affected  their  morality,  partly  because  the  marriage  of  priests 
was  either  recognized  by  the  general  laws,  or  it  was  not 
thought  advisable  now  to  decide  upon  the  subject. 

6.  The  equality  of  priests  and  laymen  in  the  eye  of  the  law. 
In   temporal   or  civil  cases,   such   as  trespasses,  affrays, 

assaults,  breach  of  bargains,  the  priest,  as  well  for  himself 
as  the  church,  should  seek  his  remedy  at  assize  or  by  legal 
warrant,  and  pay  a  fine  to  the  king  like  any  other  man 
(art.  10).  The  Lord's  Sapper  should  not  be  refused  to  any 
one  on  account  of  debt  to  the  priest  or  church  (art.  16). 
Where  a  priest  and  layman  strike  each  other,  the  one  shall 
no  more  be  under  ban  or  interdict  than  the  other,  since 
God  has  forbidden  the  one  as  well  as  the  other  to  strike,  but 
each  must  pay  a  fine  according  to  the  law  of  the  land 
(art.  11).  The  priest  is  not  to  give  legacies  otherwise  than 
according  to  the  book  of  laws,  like  other  husbands  (art.  13). 

7.  Of  clerical  benefices,  schools,  and  monasteries. 
Where  the  benefices  are  weak,  if  occasion  calls  for  it,  two 

may  be  united  into  one,  yet  so  that  the  word  of  God  be  not 
hindered,  still  less  be  not  preached  (art.  2). 

This  detail  of  the  enactments  is  quoted  from  Laurentius 
Petri's  explanation  of  the  ordinantia.  By  the  junction  of 
benefices,  the  parishioners  were  able  better  to  maintain  the 
church  and  priests.  Thereby  was  removed  the  necessity  for 
those  gifts,  which  for  that  purpose  must  heretofore  be  be- 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  223 

stowed  and,  if  they  were  now  recalled,  yet  was  provision 
made  for  the  support  of  the  church  and  priests.  The  diffi 
culty  of  providing  the  churches  with  evangelical  preachers, 
might,  perhaps,  have  contributed  to  the  desire  to  lessen  their 
number. 

In  respect  to  schools,  it  was  prescribed,  that  "  after  this 
day  the  gospel  shall  there  be  read  among  other  lessons,  be 
cause  they  are,  to  be  sure,  Christian  schools." 

The  treaty  placed  the  wealth  arising  from  the  rents  of  the 
cloisters  under  management.  The  ordinantia  (art.  1 2)  for 
bids  that  their  tenants  be  allowed  to  go  out  begging.  The 
mendicant  monks  proper,  "  as  in  truth  they  are  found  to 
circulate  throughout  the  land  much  deceit  and  lying,"  are 
placed  under  inspection  of  the  king's  country  stewards.  A 
monk  shall  be  allowed,  for  collecting  alms,  no  longer  time 
than  live  weeks  at  the  feast  of  Olof,  in  summer,  and  five 
weeks  at  Candlemas,  in  winter,  and  shall  take  a  letter  of  the 
country  steward  when  he  goes  out,  and  present  himself  to 
him  when  he  returns  •  (art.  12).  The  limitation  of  time 
allowed  them  to  collect  alms  for  the  cloister,  limited  also  the 
possibility  of  their  working  on  the  minds  of  the  people. 

After  the  decree  was  passed,  which  was  contained  in  the 
treaty,  it  remained  to  obtain  the  approbation  of  the  bishops 
present  at  Westeras.  This  was  given  on  the  24th  of  June. 
After  they  had  quoted  in  their  declaration  the  king's  com 
plaint  of  the  great  and  often  misused  power  of  the  bishops, 
they  add  their  consent  in  the  following  words :  "  Thus, 
since  it  is  admitted  and  agreed  by  all,  we  cannot,  and  will 
not  say  to  the  contrary,  but  let  it  so  be,  especially  that  the 
suspicion  may  be  removed  that  the  bishops,  by  their  power 
and  their  castles,  would  endanger  the  king  and  kingdom, 
and  let  us  have  peace,  how  rich  or  how  poor  soever  his  grace 
will  have  us  to  be." 

This  declaration  was  so  conceived,  that  under  a  possible 
alteration  of  circumstances,  it  permitted  the  bishops  again  to 


224  III3TORY    OF    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

resume  the  authority  now  laid  down.  But  from  this  am 
biguity,  which,  no  doubt,  originated  in  the  influence  of  the 
bishop  of  Linkoping,  we  are  not  to  conclude  that  the  hier 
archy  of  the  Swedish  church  were  altogether  opposed  to 
reform  as  far  as  in  1527  it  had  been  carried.  When  it  is 
considered  that  the  bishop  of  Westerns,  and  bishop  elect  of 
Striingness,  at  the  opening  of  the  diet,  in  the  very  terms 
of  this  declaration,  expressed  themselves  unwilling  to  oppose- 
a  reduction  of  the  wealth  of  the  church;  that  bishop 
Magnus  Sommar  was  the  man  who,  by  his  speech  to  the 
hesitating  and  discordant  estates,  produced  unity  in  their 
decree  to  comply  with  the  king's  demands  ;  that  the  foremost 
counsellor  and  guide  of  the  king  in  these  proceedings  was 
archdeacon  Laurentius  Andreas,  who  himself  held  a  prelacy 
m  the  church;  that  the  most  important  and  influential 
preacher  of  the  reformers  was  a  canon  in  one  of  the  cathe 
drals  of  the  kingdom ;  when,  in  addition,  there  is  taken  into 
consideration  the  undeniable  abuse  many  prelates  made  of 
their  power,  how  spiritual  power  becomes  the  instrument 
of  party  strife,  it  will  be  seen  how  Mttle  reason  there  is  to 
represent  the  intervention  of  king  Gustavus  as  an  outrage  to 
the  church,  against  the  will  of  both  the  clergy  and  laity. 
Seldom  or  never  has  a  change  in  the  ecclesiastical  or  civil 
community  won  a  contemporaneous,  undivided  approbation. 
Still  less  could  the  rupture  in  Sweden  in  1527  win  it.  But 
that  the  king  had,  among  both  priests  and  laymen,  a  suffi 
ciently  strong  support  and  countenance,  that  among  both  he 
had  with  him  the  stronger  party,  the  annals  manifest,  as  do 
the  success  and  establishment  of  the  cause. 

The  most  fugitive  glance  at  the  treaty  shows  how  great 
was  the  advantage  derived  to  the  nobles  and  knights  from 
the  decree.  The  recovery  of  the  property  exempt  from  taxes, 
and  the  grant  of  monasteries  to  the  knights,  might  allure 
minds  which  were  not  more  strongly  rooted  than  these 
showed  themselves  to  be  in  reverence  for  the  church.  The 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  225 

first  overture  proceeded  not  from  the  nobles,  but  from 
churchmen,  and  the  opposition  was,  at  the  beginning  of  the 
diet,  strongest  among  the  nobles,  and  a  bishop  was  the  man 
who  undertook  to  conquer  that  opposition. 

Upon  the  altered  position  of  the  bishops  followed  the 
cessation  of  their  dignity  as  members  of  the  council.  It 
was  a  necessary  consequence  of  those  views  of  the  episcopal 
office  which  lay  at  the  base  of  the  treaty  and  ordinantia. 
It  is  also  reported,  though  it  cannot  be  fully  proved, 
that  they  themselves  desired  a  release  from  this  dignity  and 
duty,  which  the  reduction  of  their  incomes  that  now  took 
place  did  not  allow  them  to  maintain.  It  is  probable  that 
they  as  willingly  laid  these  honors  down  as  let  them  ba 
taken  from  them. 

We  will  not  omit  to  observe,  what  is  sufficiently  apparent 
in  itself,  that  in  the  decree  of  Westeras  regarding  the  in 
comes  and  wealth,  the  change  affected  the  highest  posts  in 
the  church,  the  bishops  and  canons.  The  position  of  the 
parish  priests,  in  respect  to  their  incomes,  remained  wholly 
untouched ;  the  reduction  did  not  extend  to  their  salaries. 

The  diet  of  Westeras  was  a  commencement  whose  prog 
ress  could  not  be  discerned.  It  was  not  the  destruction  of 
the  old  church,  because  its  principles  were  not  so  settled, 
that  place  could  not  be  found  in  it  for  the  new  order  of 
things,  notwithstanding  the  exception  that  this  new  order  was 
an  insurrection  against  the  papacy.  But  the  chains  which 
bound  the  faith,  life  and  efficiency  of  the  western  church, 
the  friends  of  a  reform  had  for  some  time  been  shaking. 
Many  among  those  who  were  disposed  to  the  old  times,  first 
made  the  observation  after  the  council  of  Orebro,  in  1529, 
that  a  new  order  of  things  had  indeed  begun. 

10* 


iifnvi^ 


226  HISTORY    OF   THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 


CHAPTER    II. 

THE  OPERATION  OP  THE  SECOND  AND  THIRD  POINTS  OF  THE  TREATY 
OP  WESTERAS. 

IT  behooves  us  now  to  show  how  the  decree  "concerning 
the  reduction  of  the  church's  wealth  was  carried  into  exe 
cution.  We  shall  consider  the  subject  in  the  connection  of 
its  several  parts,  without  confining  ourselves  to  any  certain 
time,  except  that  the  account  to  be  made  of  the  goods  of  the 
bishops  and  canons  was  limited  to  the  year  1544,  when  a 
change  took  place  to  be  hereafter  mentioned  and  discussed. 

As  soon  as  the  consent  of  the  bishops  present  at  Westeras 
was  given  to  the  treaty,  king  Grustavus  immediately  went 
to  the  diet  to  demand  of  them  their  castles.  The  castle  of 
Gronso,  belonging  to  the  church  of  Westeras,  he  already 
had  in  his  hands,  as  has  been  before  told.  That  of  St.  Erik 
at  Stacket,  the  fortress  of  the  archbishop,  was  some  time 
previous  destroyed,  and  the  departure  of  John  Magnus  had 
left  the  king  in  the  free  use  of  the  incomes  and  property  of 
the  archbishopric.  The  king  now  asked  Magnus  Sommar 
for  Tynnelso,  subject  to  the  church  of  Striingness,  which 
castle  he  had  once  won  from  the  Danes,  but  had  restored. 
The  bishop  declared,  without  hesitation,  his  willingness  to 
give  up  this,  and  all  of  his  incomes  or  property  that  the  king 
should  desire.  The  king  then  turned  to  Magnus  Haraldsson 
of  Skara,  of  whom  he  asked  Lecko,  and  of  him  too  obtained 
"  a  most  pleasing  answer."  Now  came  the  turn  of  bishop 
Brask,  of  whom  the  king  demanded  Munkeboda.  The 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  227 

bishop  "puffed,  and  blowed,  and  stammered,  and  was 
reluctant  to  pledge  himself."  Then  stood  up  Thure  Jonsson 
and  begged  for  his  friend,  that  he  might  be  allowed  to  hold 
the  castle  during  his  lifetime.  But  the  king  not  only 
refused  the  request,  but  immediately  required  of  the  bishop 
forty  armed  men  then  present,  which  were  to  be  transferred 
to  the  king's  service.  The  bishop  was  allowed  to  retain 
only  two  followers.  He  was  besides  required  to  put  the 
castle  in  repair,  and  was  forbidden  to  leave  Westerns  without 
the  king's  permission,  which  was  not  given  him  before  the 
king's  people  were  able  to  garrison  Munkeboda. 

This  castle,  according  to  the  treaty,  was  to  belong  to  the 
crown.  For  the  employment  of  the  other  property  on 
which  the  king  obtained  the  right  of  raising  money,  there 
appears  to  have  been  adopted  a  settled  principle,  though 
not  publicly  announced,  and  not  strictly  observed.  So 
many  cases,  however,  occur,  that  we  may  regard  the  maxim 
as  settled,  and  the  deviations  from  it  as  occasional  excep 
tions.  All  the  rents  and  tithes,  which,  as  superfluous,  passed, 
according  to  the  treaty,  and  were  used  for  the  increase  of 
the  revenues  of  the  crown,  were  employed  for  the  public 
advantage  and  transferred  to  the  customs  and  general  sys 
tem  of  taxation.  The  vacated  revenues  of  the  prebends 
were  used  for  two  purposes — partly  for  the  support  of  those 
who  labored  in  the  king's  chancery,  partly  to  maintain  those 
studying  in  the  German  universities,  who  aimed  to  perfect 
themselves  in  any  branch  of  human  knowledge.  They  were 
thus  used  for  acquisition  of  a  learned  education,  or  for  pay 
ment  of  the  almost  only  posts  in  the  community  for  which, 
out  of  the  church,  high  acquirements  were  requisite,  and 
which  of  old  were  held  by  churchmen,  who  were  maintained 
by  their  prebends.  The  rents  of  the  cloisters  were  consid 
ered  as  crown  goods,  and  were  granted  in  fee,  according  to 
the  custom  of  the  times,  to  the  knights.  The  mendicant 
cloisters  which  were  generally  situated  in  towns,  were 


228  HISTORY   OF   THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

appropriated  to  hospitals  or  transferred  to  some  such  pur 
poses. 

In  conformity  with  the  decree  of  the  diet,  the  king  made 
different  agreements  with  each  bishop,  chapter  or  cloister. 
The  bishops  and  chapters  themselves  received,  in  the  usual 
manner,  their  incomes,  and  remitted  the  portion  agreed  on 
to  the  king.  The  agreements  were  either  renewed  every 
year,  or  were  made  for  an  indefinite  time.  This  continued 
until  the  year  1544. 

Some  examples  may  be  produced,  how  the  reduction,  im- 
immediately  after  1527,  was  undertaken  and  carried  into 
execution. 

From  Westcras  the  king  retired  to  his  newly-acquired 
castle  of  Tynnelso,  where,  on  July  4th,  1527,  it  was  ordered 
that  the  tenants  of  the  bishop's  residence  at  Striingness  were, 
with  Sola  and  Salabo,  to  be  attached  to  the  crown  under 
Tynnelso.  The  other  tenants,  with  their  rents,  obligation 
to  lodge  and  board,  and  fines,  the  bishop  was  to  retain,  to 
gether  with  the  tithes  of  the  districts  of  Rekarne,  Oppunda, 
Akers  and  Selbo. 

The  same  day  a  copy  of  the  treaty  and  ordinantia  was 
sent  to  the  chapter  of  Upsala,  with  an  admonition  to  con 
duct  itself  in  conformity.  The  incomes  of  the  archbishop 
ric  were  already  administered  by  the  king.  How  it  was 
ordered  with  respect  to  the  chapters  and  cathedrals  of  Upsala, 
Striingncss  and  Westerns,  is  not  known.  For  Abo,  whose 
bishop  elect,  Erik,  hud  obtained  permission  to  relinquish 
this  office  and  retire  to  the  deanery  of  Linkoping,  it  was 
ordered,  from  Stockholm,  July  7th,  that  provost  Hans 
should,  till  further  opportunity,  manage  the  establishment, 
but  John  Westgote  have  the  care  of  the  episcopal  grounds, 
tithes  and  tenants,  with  responsibility  to  the  king.  With 
bishop  Brask  it  was  settled  at  Wadsten,  August  2d,  that  he 
should  yearly  give  the  king  fifteen  hundred  Danish  marks, 
one  and  a  half  tons  of  butter,  one  and  a  half  tons  of  honey, 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDKN.  229 

and  on  his  part  receive  all  incomes  from  Norsholm  and  the 
peasants  who  there  were  day  laborers. 

The  king  then  went  to  Skara,  and  there  agreed,  August 
24th,  with  bishop  Magnus,  that  he  should  give  one  thousand 
Danish  marks,  and  four  baskets  of  salmon,  and  on  his  part 
hold  all  belonging  to  the  benefices,  except  Lecko  and  the 
day-laborers  of  Kallandso.  The  town  of  Skara  also,  and 
the  fines  falling  due  there,  were  to  appertain  as  revenues  to 
the  bishop,  except  certain  imposts.  The  cathedral  of  Skara 
obligated  itself  to  a  certain  yearly  payment. 

The  king  returned  again  this  year  to  East  Gothland,  and 
entered  into  an  agreement  at  Linkoping  with  the  chapter 
there.  It  throws  light  on  what  took  place  with  the  chapters 
in  general. 

Six  prelates  and  canons,  beside  the  bishop,  should  remain 
in  the  cathedral,  with  the  best  prebends,  and  keep  ten 
priests  to  bear  crosses,  the  bishop  two,  the  provost  two,  the 
archdeacon  two,  the  four  canons  each  one.  The  chapter 
itself  was  permitted  to  fix  terms  for  the  non-resident  canons, 
except  doctor  John,  master  Olof  and  Anders  Algotsson,  who 
were  in  the  service  of  the  king  and  kingdom.  The  king 
should  have  control  of  the  prebends  becoming  vacant.  The 
country  priests  could  become  canons,  but  without  separate 
incomes  from  the  cathedrals.  Vacant  benefices  in  the  land 
should  be  offered  and  opened  to  the  canons  and  prebendaries 
of  Linkoping,  until  those  residing  in  the  cathedral  were 
reduced  to  the  number  just  mentioned.  The  cathedral  and 
chapter  were  allowed  to  hold  the  goods  and  rents  they  now 
had,  except  what,  according  to  the  treaty,  was  legally 
recovered  from  them,  and  to  pay  jointly  to  the  crown  eight 
hundred  Danish  marks.  Of  that  sum,  there  should  be  a 
correspondent  reduction  when  the  number  of  prebends  was 
reduced.  The  money,  which  under  the  name  of  Roman 
tax,  was  wont  to  go  to  the  papal  chancery,  should,  in 
stead,  be  paid  to  the  crown.  Of  proctors,  the  chapter 


230  HISTORY    OF    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

should  have  the  appointment,  on  condition  that  useless  in 
vestitures  were  abolished,  that  two  chaplains  were  retained 
for  morning  service,  and  that  the  schoolmaster  was  properly 
maintained. 

At  Linkoping  arrangements  were  made  the  same  day  for 
Wexio,  that  there  should  be  there  four  canons,  with  the 
best  prebends,  and  six  cross-bearing  priests,  and  a  school. 
The  rest  should  be  maintained  by  beneh'ces  in  the  neighbor 
hood  falling  vacant.  The  bishop,  cathedral  and  chapter 
should  jointly  every  year  give  the  crown  two  tons  of  butter, 
which  amount  should  be  diminished  in  proportion  as  their 
numbers  diminished.  They  were  allowed  to  hold  all  the 
goods  which,  according  to  the  treaty,  they  were  not  obliged 
to  surrender.  The  bishop  moreover  should  hold  the  town 
of  Wexio  and  all  its  incomes,  upon  payment  of  one  hundred 
marks  Danish. 

The  agreements,  though  often  renewed  and  altered, 
continued  for  the  most  part  to  rest  on  the  same  basis,  till 
1544.  When  the  number  of  canons  and  prebends  was 
diminished,  which  appeal's  soon  to  have  taken  place — when 
their  position  in  succeeding  times  could  not  be  particularly 
agreeable,  and  a  removal  to  priestly  benefices  in  the  land 
more  advantageous — the  houses  belonging  to  their  office  in 
the  towns,  which  fell  to  the  crown,  were  either  sold  for  their 
benefit  or  used  for  other  purposes.  As  several  country 
priests  possessed  prebends  and  canonries  in  Skara,  the  king 
considered  them  to  be  contented  with  their  benefices,  and  in 
1533,  declared  his  pleasure  to  be  to  receive  the  rents  of  these 
prebends.  In  1529  the  king  appropriated  a  multitude  of 
houses  in  Stockholm,  belonging  partly  to  the  prebends, 
partly  to  the  corporation  already  dissolved,  to  the  support  of 
preaching,  and  of  schools  in  Stockholm.  Now,  for  the  first 
time,  Stockholm  obtained  preaching  without  rectors. 

Besido  that  the  king,  in  his  journey  through  the  kingdom, 
in  every  place  entered  into  these  agreements,  he  sent 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  231 

about  certain  men  to  every  cathedral,  who  were  to  examine 
and  take  into  custody  the  records,  by  which,  the  wealth  of 
the  ecclesiastical  establishment  might  be  ascertained. 

Of  the  rents  of  the  monasteries,  the  king  took  immediately 
the  management.  It  was  not  always  taken  as  the  treaty 
directed,  to  leave  them  in  investiture  with  the  knights,  but 
sometimes  arrangements  were  made  with  the  cloisters,  as 
with  the  bishops  and  chapters,  for  a  certain  yearly  payment, 
or  proctors  were  appointed,  who  should  for  the  benefit  of 
the  crown  give  an  account  of  the  taxes  and  expenses.  The 
last  mentioned  expedient  was  often  adopted  with  nunneries. 
The  nuns  of  St.  Bernard  in  Sko,  were  ordered,  on  October 
30,  1527,  to  apply  to  Laurentius  Andreas  for  a  proctor  to 
the  cloister.  Peter  Svenske  was,  on  September  1,  1527, 
appointed  administrator  of  the  cloister  in  Skeninge,  because 
there  was  a  profuse  expenditure,  as  the  cloister  had  more 
chaplains  and  took  in  more  girls  to  support  and  instruct 
than  was  necessary.  The  abbess  of  Wadsten  was  required 
to  pay  three  hundred  Danish  marks.  The  like  agreements 
of  a  yearly  payment  were  concluded  with  the  abbots  of 
Alvastra  and  Varnhem,  and  the  abbesses  of  Wreta,  Askaby 
and  others,  which  monasteries  afterward  became  investi 
tures. 

In  consequence  of  the  profuse  expenditure  of  the  means 
of  the  cloisters,  the  increased  difficulties  attending  the  ad 
mission  of  new  monks  and  nuns,  the  widely  spread  change 
in  principles  which  created  a  disinclination  or  contempt  for 
conventual  life,  one  cloister  after  another  disappeared,  so 
that  for  the  greater  portion  of  them  the  time  cannot  be 
given  when  the  last  mass  was  held,  or  the  last  conventual 
vow  vanished  from  within  their  walls.  The  crown,  which 
became  heir  general  to  the  property  not  restored  to  particular 
persons,  had  already  taken  possession  of  it,  and  when,  at 
last,  nothing  was  left  of  the  monks  and  nuns,  it  was  a  matter 
of  small  importance. 


232  HISTORY    OF   THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

• 

Of  the  monks,  many  became  parish  priests,  others  returned 
to  a  secular  life.  Of  the  nuns,  many  went  forth  into  the 
world,  married,  or  gave  themselves  up  to  a  loose  life,  which 
was  adduced  by  the  papists  as  a  reproach  of  the  consequence 
attendant  on  the  dissolution  of  cloisters ;  by  the  protestants, 
on  the  other  hand,  as  proof  of  the  little  modesty  and  reli 
gious  stability  acquired  in  monastic  life. 

When  the  number  of  monks  and  nuns  was  in  any  place 
diminished,  the  remainder  were  removed  from  the  different 
cloisters,  to  one  which  became  the  common  home  of  those 
who,  from  age  and  sickness  or  want  of  friends  to  take  care 
of  them,  would  not  or  could  not  again  return  into  the  world. 
But  few  or  no  proofs  are  found  that  the  tenants  of  cloisters 
were  anywhere  hunted  with  violence  from  their  sanctuary. 
Yet  it  may  well  be  imagined,  that  selfish  fiefsmen  and 
country  stewards,  either  with  undisguised  rapacity,  or  under 
the  cloak  of  protestant  zeal,  by  their  treatment  of  these 
forlorn  objects  of  their  care,  compelled  them  to  abandon 
the  cloisters. 

As  the  decree  was  not  to  abolish  monasteries,  but  to  take 
care  of  their  property,  the  principle  in  effect  followed,  that 
none  were  to  be  forced  to  renounce  the  monastic  vow  or  live 
from  under  its  influence.  In  modern  times,  on  the  suppres 
sion  of  monasteries  in  Roman  catholic  countries,  a  certain 
yearly  support  has  been  assigned  to  each  tenant  of  them,  but 
with  expulsion  from  the  cloisters,  which  were  put  into  pos 
session  of  the  state.  The  same  took  place  in  Sweden,  in 
1526,  when  Gripsholm  was  recovered  by  king  Gustavus,  but 
so  that  each  monk  got  at  once  a  round  sum.  After  the  diet 
of  Westerns  there  appear  very  few  instances  of  the  like. 

What  tenderness  was  shown  in  the  suppression  alike  of 
convents  for  monks  and  nuns,  appears  from  the  conduct  of 
the  king  toward  the  above-named  eminent  cloister  of 
Skeninge.  The  prioress,  in  the  year  1529,  was  allowed  to 
resume  the  management  of  a  part  of  the  property  on  hand, 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  233 

in  consideration  of  a  yearly  sum.  Two  years  after,  the  king 
saw  fit  that  the  nuns  should  remove  to  Wadsten  or  Wreta, 
and  the  goods  were  stored  there.  But  the  nuns  remained  in 
their  cloister,  because  they  were  disinclined  to  unite  them 
selves  with  another  order.  In  1544,  the  question  of  their 
removal  to  Wadsten  was  again  raised.  The  nuns  still 
refused  to  go  there,  and  declared  that  they  preferred  the  life 
of  peasants.  The  king  thought  this  unadvisable,  because  he 
feared  they  might  spread  disaffection  among  the  people.  He 
again  offered  them  instead  the  convent  of  Wreta. 

The  cloister  of  Askaby  was,  in  1520,  united  to  Wreta 
under  the  same  abbess.  The  cloister  to  which  bishop  Brask, 
in  1516,  gave  property  on  condition  of  having  masses,  vigils 
and  other  ceremonies  performed  for  his  deceased  friends, 
was  burnt  down  in  the  year  1537,  the  year  before  the  death 
of  the  exiled  bishop,  and  was  never  rebuilt. 

Some  few  cloisters  that  produced  rents,  remained  beyond 
the  times  of  king  Gustavus.  So  Sko  had  a  cloister  stand 
ing  in  15GG,  Wadsten  and  Nadendal,  in  1595.  The  nuns 
of  the  latter,  implored  the  king,  in  1530,  to  be  allowed  to 
retain  their  incomes,  and  obtained  his  promise  for  their 
keeping  at  present  the  goods  which  appertained  to  the  crown, 
but  the  king  could  not  hinder  the  restoration  of  the  rest 
contrary  to  the  treaty  of  Westeras.  The  monastery  of 
Wadsten,  the  most  important  establishment  of  the  papal 
church,  was  continued,  though  with  a  languishing  life.  Its 
wealth  was  considerably  diminished.  No  more  monastic 
vows  were  taken  there.  No  bishop  was  found  who  wished 
or  ventured  to  consecrate  young  women  to  such  a  life.  In 
1541  this  cloister,  formerly  so  rich,  gained  permission  to 
collect  alms.  In  1544,  the  king  issued  a  letter  of  permis 
sion  for  the  monks  and  nuns  who  wished  it,  to  leave  the 
cloister  and  enter  the  marriage  state.  This  permission  is 
said  to  have  been  given  at  the  request  of  many  of  its  tenants, 
who  wished  to  return  to  a  secular  life.  Soon  after,  a 


234  HISTORY    OF   THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

brother  of  the  cloister  ceased  to  be  found,  and  it  scarcely 
possessed  a  father  confessor.  Its  diary,  one  of  the  most 
important  documents  the  middle  ages  has  left  us,  becomes 
laconic  and  cautious  from  the  beginning  of  king  Gustavus's 
time,  and  the  record  ceases  at  the  year  3545.  Yet  there 
were  still  eighteen  sisters  left  in  the  cloister  in  the  begin 
ning  of  king  John's  reign,  when,  for  a  short  time,  it  appears 
to  have  been  again  in  blooin,  until  the  stronger  protestant 
ism  of  Charles  annihilated,  on  its  suppression,  in  1595,  the 
last  monastic  establishment  in  Sweden. 

More  expeditiously  than  those  which  were  supported  by 
rents,  the  mendicant  cloisters  were  suppressed.  The  time  for 
gathering  alms  was  limited  by  the  ordinantia  of  \V  esteras, 
and  the  new  principles  diminished  the  number  of  generous 
hands.  Once  the  king  extended  the  time  for  begging. 
Thus,  the  brothers  of  St.  Anthony  in  Ramundaboda,  ob 
tained  a  prolongation  of  time  for  twelve  weeks  in  winter 
and  eight  in  summer,  because  they  were  obliged  to  enter 
tain  wayfarers  in  the  forest. 

The  first  mendicant  cloister  which  was  surrendered  by 
its  tenants,  was  the  oft-mentioned  convent  ot  the  Francis 
cans  in  Stockholm.  This  was  evacuated  by  the  monks  in 
1527,  either  they  disapproving  their  vows,  or  the  unkind- 
ness  of  the  people  forcing  them  to  the  measure.  The  same 
year,  the  nuns  were  removed  from  the  cloister  of  St.  Clair, 
which  was  pulled  down.  In  1531  a  cloister  was  turned 
into  a  hospital,  "  as  the  monastic  life  was  fast  vanishing 
away,  while  the  Scripture  commands  us  to  take  care  of 
the  poor  and  sick."  This  hospital,  whose  incomes  are  joined 
with  another  in  Stockholm  to  support  a  certain  number  of 
rooms  for  the  sick,  was  placed  under  the  inspection  of  the 
burgomaster  and  council  of  the  city.  The  nuns  who  were 
left,  if  sufficiently  healthy  and  strong,  were  to  attend  on  the 
poor  and  sick.  The  same  regulation  was  adopted  in  other 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  235 

towns,  of  uniting  hospitals  and  placing  them  under  the  care 
of  the  burgomaster  and  council. 

The  convent  of  grey  monks  in  Jonkoping  was  changed 
to  a  hospital  in  1529  ;  that  of  the  black  monks  in  Enkoping, 
in  1530,  with  privilege  to  both  of  begging  for  the  hospital, 
as  they  had  before  done  for  the  convent.  The  property 
of  the  black  brothers  in  Skeninge,  was  transferred  to  a 
hospital. 

The  more  full  information  of  Olaus  Petri  acquaints  us, 
that  the  suppression  of  the  cloister  of  the  black  brothers  in 
Stockholm  may  be  considered  an  exemplification  of  the 
course  pursued,  when  the  cloister  was  not  turned  into  a 
hospital.  On  December  5,  1528,  the  prior,  Peter  Oxen, 
the  readers,  Lars  and  Enger,  and  the  brother  Olof,  appeared 
in  the  town  house  of  Stockholm,  and  represented  to  the 
council  that  many,  in  both  town  and  country,  declined 
giving  them  any  support.  They  were  therefore  under  a 
necessity  of  leaving  their  convent,  and  providing  for  them 
selves  as  well  as  they  could.  They  would  first  explain  their 
necessities  to  the  burgomaster  and  council,  and  then  solicit 
their  good  advice.  They  had  already  laid  them  before  the 
king,  and  he  had  acknowledged  that-they  had  good  reason 
for  leaving  the  cloister,  as  it  would  not  be  well  for  them  to 
starve  there.  Some  good  men  there  were  willing  to  help 
them,  but  not  enough  to  provide  them  food.  They  would 
add,  that  master  Olof,  the  illustrious  secretary  of  the  council, 
had,  the  day  before,  been  in  the  cloister,  at  the  king's  com 
mand,  and  found  that  the  monks  had  neither  malt,  meal,  nor 
bread.  Ale  they  had  for  two  or  three  weeks,  of  flesh  and 
fish  a  month's  provision,  of  money  the  prior  had  but  one 
mark,  and  owed  thirty.  The  monks  had  within  the  last 
two  years  supported  themselves  rather  than  been  supported 
by  the  convent.  If  they  could  not  live  in  the  convent  the 
good  men  of  the  council  ought  not  to  compel  them  to  stay 
there.  If  they  could  be  supported  there  they  might  be 


236  HISTORY    OF    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

content  to  stay,  otherwise  they  ought  to  have  permission  to 
support  themselves.  The  same  day,  the  king  sent  master 
Laurentius  Andrea?,  master  Olof,  the  chamberlain,  and 
master  Olof  Petri  to  the  cloister,  who  removed  and  carried  to 
the  castle  the  jewels  and  valuables,  and  distributed  the 
remainder,  the  mass-dresses  and  the  like,  among  the  monks, 
for  clothing. 

As  this  cloister  was  not  turned  into  a  hospital,  neither 
was  that  of  the  grey  monks  in  Wexio,  which,  in  1530,  was 
given  up.  Gudmund  Spegel,  pnupositus  of  Wexio,  whom 
the  king  made  a  prebend  of  the  cathedral  there,  received 
also  a  grant  of  all  the  books  left  by  the  monks.  The  cattle 
around  the  convent  he  was  to  distribute  among  the  poor. 
The  ecclesiastical  robes  he  was  to  give  to  poor  country 
churches  in  the  neighborhood.  He  was  to  sell  the  houses  in 
the  town  belonging  to  the  cloister,  and  account  to  the  king 
for  the  money. 

The  Dominicans  in  Skara,  to  whom  an  extension  of  time 
for  collecting  alms  had  been  allowed,  had  concealed,  in  1530, 
one  of  the  brothers  adjudged  to  be  banished  from  the  land. 
Provoked  by  this  act,  the  king  recalled  the  permission  he 
had  granted,  and  directs  the  bishop  elect  of  Skara,  master 
Sven,  to  advise  with  the  lagman  and  others,  whether  the 
cloister  should  not  be  suppressed  on  account  of  its  disorders, 
and  the  monks  who  were  unwilling  to  leave  it  be  removed 
to  Sigtuna. 

Immediately  after  the  diet  of  Westerns,  commenced,  as 
directed  by  the  treaty,  the  general  restoration  of  property 
granted  by  individuals  to  ecclesiastical  establishments.  There 
was  no  establishment  in  the  land  which  did  not  thus  lose 
more  or  less  of  its  possessions  and  property.  Many  were 
thus  wholly  stripped.  When  it  was  attempted  to  extend  the 
claim  for  restoration  to  hospitals,  alms-houses  and  houses 
for  the  sick,  the  king  interfered,  and  on  January  25,  1528, 
forbade  such  an  extension.  To  take  back  such  gifts,  was 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  237 

in  opposition  to  the  command  of  God,  who  has  committed 
to  us  the  care  of  the  worthy  poor.  Such  was  not  the 
meaning  of  the  diet  of  Westerns  nor  of  the  king. 

The  inquisition  made  by  king  Charles  Canuteson  limited 
the  restoration  of  property  exempt  from  taxes.  Sometimes, 
indeed,  king  Gustavus  permitted  goods  given  before  that 
time  to  be  restored,  when  the  heir  had  well  served  the  king 
and  kingdom,  and  the  property  itself  been  given  so  short  a 
time  before  that  inquisition,  as  to  be  accounted  within  the 
memory  of  man.  But  in  respect  to  such  goods  as  the  treaty 
appears  to  have  intended  to  remain  in  the  church's  undis 
turbed  possession,  the  king  took  the  ground,  that  they  should 
be  applied  to  increase  the  rents  of  the  crown,  after  the 
clergy,  churches,  and  monasteries,  had  received  the  necessary 
maintenance. 

The  king  deemed  it  necessary  to  prevent  the  new  inquisi 
tion  from  operating  further  back  than  was  contemplated, 
and  he  perceived  there  was  much  caution  requisite,  that 
the  property  of  the  ecclesiastical  establishments  might  not 
be  wrested  from  them  without  reason,  and  in  disregard  of 
the  legal  form  prescribed  by  the  treaty.  More  than  once 
did  he  remonstrate  and  complain  of  attempts  of  this  sort. 
In  a  letter  to  the  nobility  of  East  Gothland,  dated  February 
28,  1539,  he  professes,  with  some  bitterness,  that  he  had  ex 
pected  the  men  who  held  the  king's  fiefs  to  aid  him  in 
protecting  and  advancing  evangelical  doctrine.  But  they 
look  through  their  fingers,  and  let  it  get  on  as  well  as  it 
could.  "  To  take  the  goods,  lands,  houses  and  other  property 
from  churches,  cloisters,  and  prebends,  they  were  ready  and 
willing  enough,  and  in  this  respect  all  men  were  Christian 
and  evangelical." 

The  reduction  proceeded  during  almost  the  whole  of  king 
Gustavus's  reign.  In  its  later  years,  questions  more  often 
arose  as  to  the  true  heirs  entitled  to  this  property.  Gus 
tavus  Wasa  himself  was  particularly  attentive  to  his  own 


238  HISTORY    OP    THE   ECCLESIASTICAL 

rights,  as  belonging  to  one  of  the  richest  families  in  the 
land,  and  by  his  domestic  relations,  in  many  cases,  a  joint 
heir  with  others.  He  laid  claim,  as  an  individual,  to  con 
siderable  property,  which  devolved  to  the  church  before 
1453.  King  Erik  XIV.,  reclaimed  this  for  the  crown  in 
1563,  but  in  1566,  took  it  back  as  an  inheritance  and  as 
his  own.  After  the  dethronement  of  Erik  and  the  disinher 
itance  of  his  sons,  the  remaining  sons  and  grandsons  of  king 
Gustavus  contended  for  this  inheritance,  which  was  at  the 
time  assigned  to  the  house  of  Wasa,  but  though  to  be 
divided  only  among  the  sons,  was  often  disputed  for  by 
many  of  the  nobility.  These  last  were  conciliated  by 
Gustavus  Adolphus,  into  whose  hand,  after  the  death  of 
the  dukes  John  and  Charles  Philip,  and  after  Sigismund 
and  his  successors  lost  their  right  of  inheritance  in  Sweden, 
the  wrhole  property  devolved.  That  prince's  generous  grants 
and  gifts  to  the  university  of  Upsala,  atoned,  in  the  eyes 
of  men,  for  what  in  his  forefather's  claim  to  his  personal 
advantage  was  considered  a  stretch  of  power  and  a  selfish 
proceeding. 

The  number  of  farms  and  homesteads,  which,  by  this 
reduction,  were  taken  from  the  church,  has  not  been  accu 
rately  computed.  But  it  has  been  estimated  at  thirteen 
to  twenty  thousand,  and  more.  That  which  had  been 
for  five  hundred  years,  but  chiefly  in  the  last  century, 
bestowed  for  the  building  up  of  the  visible  church,  was,  for 
the  most  part,  now  taken  back,  when  it  was  seen,  that  the 
overflowing  bounty  tempted  churchmen  from  their  duty  and 
proper  functions,  and  became,  for  the  descendants  of  the 
donors,  a  heavy  burden  instead  of  a  blessing. 

It  was  a  work  of  thirty  years  to  break  down  the  structure 
which  rested  on  a  false  basis,  and  bring  to  light  the  true 
structure  of  the  church,  which  reposes  on  the  word  of  the 
living  God,  and  this  is  everlasting 


DEFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  239 


CHAPTER    III. 

FLIGHT  OF  BISHOP  BRASK— CONSECRATION  OF  THE  BISHOPS  ELECT- 
WRITINGS  OF  THE  REFORMERS  DURING  THE  YEAR  1528. 

BISHOP  BRASK,  of  Linkoping,  for  a  long  time  contended 
almost  alone  for  maintaining  the  papacy  within  the  Swedish 
church.  He  had  for  some  time  confessed  his  courage  and  his 
strength  to  be  shaken,  and  unable  to  find  any  support  within 
the  land,  and  Rome  herself  incapable  of  bestowing  her 
thoughts  on  the  distant  church  of  Sweden.  After  the  diet 
of  Westeras,  therefore,  he  began  to  feel  still  more  tempted, 
as  before  expressed,  "  to  give  up  all  for  lost,"  and  make  all 
smooth.  Bend  and  succumb  to  the  new  order  of  things  ho 
could  not,  without  being  false  to  his  convictions  and  his 
duty.  There  was  little  security  to  him,  or  to  his  usual 
expedients,  in  any  attempt  to  protect  himself  by  private 
protestations  and  exceptions  against  the  strong  hand  which 
now  grasped  the  sceptre  of  Sweden.  But,  to  suffer  and 
endure  in  his  own  person  for  the  church's  sake,  demanded 
a  stronger  faith  than  the  popish  spirit  of  the  time  was 
capable  of  infusing  into  the  hearts  of  men.  The  kingdom 
of  the  pope  was  a  kingdom  of  this  world,  in  which  circum 
stances  allowed  of  changes  to  be  made. 

At  Westeras  bishop  Brask  was  called  on  to  give  the  king 
sureties  for  his  good  behavior.  But  when  king  Gustavus, 
in  the  beginning  of  August,  1527,  came  to  East  Gothland, 
and  was  there  entertained  as  a  guest  by  the  bishop,  who 
appeared  perfectly  reconciled  to  the  new  order  of  things, 


240  HISTORY    OP    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

the  king  engaged  to  relinquish  these  sureties,  and  declared 
in  a  letter  he  caused  to  be  published,  that  he  withdrew 
all  the  suspicion  and  dissatisfaction  he  might  have  enter 
tained  against  the  bishop.  He  gave  him  also  permission  to 
make  a  visitation  in  Gothland,  from  which  the  bishop  had 
been  deterred  by  the  war  against  Denmark  and  Sven  Norby, 
and  when  he  would  have  undertaken  it  in  1526,  by  the 
king's  prohibition.  The  king  not  only  now  permitted  him 
to  take  the  journey,  but  furnished  him  with  a  letter  of 
recommendation  to  the  Danish  governor  of  the  castle  of 
Wiboig. 

The  favor  with  which  he  seemed  again  to  visit  bishop 
Brask,  did  not  prevent  the  king  from  openly  declaring,  on 
the  same  day  he  gave  the  letter,  that  he  had  appointed  him, 
in  conformity  with  the  ordinantia  of  Westerns,  John  Petri, 
canon  of  Linkoping,  as  his  procurator.  This  officer  was  to 
see  that  the  bishop,  in  the  appointment  of  parish  priests, 
provided  the  churches  with  men  competent  to  preach  the 
word  of  God  ;  was  to  accompany  the  bishop  in  his  visitations 
through  the  diocese,  there  himself  to  preach  God's  word, 
and  to  protect  the  priests  against  tyranny  and  oppression, 
as  also,  in  the  king's  behalf,  to  inspect  all  cases  of  clerical 
breach  of  the  sixth  commandment. 

As  soon  as  the  king  left  East  Gothland,  the  bishop  went 
from  Soderkoping  to  Gothland.  He  there  conducted  him 
self,  according  to  some  accounts,  with  much  severity  against 
the  Lutherans,  whose  preachers  were  driven  from  Wisby. 
On  the  recall  of  them  by  the  citizens  immediately  after,  lie 
again  went  on  board  his  vessel,  prayed  that  any  wind  might 
blow  except  that  toward  Sweden,  and  steered  for  Dantzic. 
The  king  suspected  him  of  having  carried  off  a  large  sum 
of  money,  which  the  bishop  knew  to  be  laid  up  in  the  cathe 
dral  of  Linkoping.  Gustavus,  who  was  thus  circumvented 
by  the  bishop,  was  much  provoked. 

Bishop  Brask  landed  at  Dantzic  in  the  beginning  of  Sep- 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  241 

lember.  From  that  place  he  wrote  to  the  king,  that  he 
had  been  weather-driven  there,  and  designed  there  to  spend 
the  winter,  that  he  might  have  the  benefit  of  skilful  physi 
cians.  In  another  letter,  which  came  into  the  kingdom,  he 
more  clearly  makes  known  his  views. 

It  appears  that  the  king  soon  obtained  information  of  the 
bishop's  flight,  and  on  the  9th  of  October,  directs  master 
John,  whom  he  had  placed  near  the  bishop,  as  we  have 
jibove  narrated,  to  make  diligent  inquisition  respecting  the 
bishop's  goods  and  chattels.  He  was  also  ordered  to  collect 
the  episcopal  tithes,  which,  by  the  agreement  of  August  2d, 
the  bishop  himself  was  allowed  to  collect,  and  if  the  bishop 
had  imposed  any  new  intolerable  taxes  on  his  clergy  the 
grievance  was  to  be  abated.  On  the  25th  of  December,  the 
king  makes  known  to  the  diocese,  that,  by  a  letter  from  the 
bishop,  he  had  been  informed  of  his  departure  to  Dantzic ; 
that,  through  other  letters  from  the  bishop  to  Sweden,  it  had 
come  to  light  that  he  plotted  rebellion  and  insurrections, 
and  that  his  flight  was  designed  to  secure  himself  from  the 
consequences  of  the  many  complaints  alleged  against  him. 
The  king  exhorts  the  diocese  to  peace  and  quiet,  and  to  con 
tinue  to  collect  the  episcopal  tithes,  which  should  not  be  with 
held,  as  appertaining  to  Christianity  and  the  office  of  a  bishop. 

A  certain  knowledge  of  the  time  of  Brask's  departure 
from  Gothland,  and  his  first  letter  from  Dantzic  to  Sweden, 
would  repel  the  suspicion  that  the  measures  now  adopted  by 
the  king,  and  not  merely  the  bishop's  previous  dissatisfaction, 
drove  him  from  the  land.  We  have  nowhere  found  that 
Brask  complained  of  any  particular  grievance  as  having 
been  now  inflicted  upon  him.  Complaints,  both  from  the 
bishop  and  against  him,  were  not  wanting,  and  it  was  in 
consequence  of  this,  that  the  king,  on  January  25,  1528, 
issued  his  summons  under  a  safe  conduct,  commanding  him 
to  return  before  Whitsuntide  of  that  year,  either  to  justify 
himself  or  answer  the  charges  against  him. 

11 


242  HISTORY    OF    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

Brosk  did  not  return,  but  from  Dantzic  sent  a  pastoral 

letter  to  his  diocese.     In  this  document,  dated  September 

{29,  1528,  he  promises  to  come  back  after  settling  his  busi- 

,  ness  abroad.     He  denies  all  participation  in  the  insurrection 

|  of  the  Dalesmen.     He  desired,  as  on  his  part  he  assured  the 

\  king,  to  live  and  die   as  a  good  Swede  and  Christian  man. 

He  exhorts  his  flock  not  to  be  seduced  by  letters,  or  books, 

or  Lutheran  preaching,  to  swerve  from  Christianity  or  the 

Christian  customs  which  they  had  received,  and  which  their 

fathers  and  forefathers  held  before    them,  that  they  might 

thus  escape  the  plagues,  bloodshedding,  untimely  deaths  and 

famine,  with  which  the  wrath  of  God,  on  account  of  the 

Lutheran  doctrines,  had  afflicted  other  lands. 

Both  to  the  king  and  diocese  he  afterward  wrote  often, 
with  the  admonition  to  renounce  heresy  and  return  to  the 
faith  of  their  fathers.  From  the  former  he  received  an 
answer,  probably  in  the  year  1533,  in  a  portion  of  which 
the  learned  argument  bears  witness  to  the  aiding  pen  of 
Laurentius  Andrea?.  Severe,  but  to  the  point,  is  the  re 
proach  against  the  bishop  for  having  abandoned  his  flock. 
"  Formerly  good  men  were  reluctant  to  undertake  the  epis 
copal  office,  but,  when  once  they  had  entered  on  it,  they 
would  willingly  die  for  it,  and  would  not  be  separated  from 
their  sheep,  till  driven  from  them.  It  is  not  so  with  you, 
but  you  have  done  quite  the  contrary.  You  pressed  into 
the  office,  and  without  necessity  or  compulsion  have  fled 
from  it.  As  long  as  the  case  was  such,  that  you  could  milk, 
shear  and  slay  the  flock,  you  were  right  at  hand.  But  when 
the  word  of  God  came,  and  said  that  you  should  feed  the 
flock  of  Christ,  and  not  shear  and  slay  them,  then  you  fled. 
How  you  have  made  your  case  better,  let  every  good  man 
judge.  When  we  now  saw  that  you,  and  many  such,  for 
sook  the  flock  of  Christ,  we  did  what  our  office  required, 
sent  others,  good  men,  instead,  who  would  be  at  hand,  and 
in  this  we  had  the  law  both  of  the  pope  and  of  the  Czesar  to 
agree  with  us." 


REFORMATION   IN   SWEDEN.  243 

In  Dantzic,  the  place  of  flight  for  disaffected  Swedes, 
Brask  met  with  John  Magnus.  Neither  of  them  had,  by 
the  methods  each  thought  the  most  suitable,  been  able  to 
put  a  stop  to  the  church's  reform.  They  were,  after  the 
appearance  of  Gustavus  on  the  scene  for  the  deliverance  of 
the  church  and  fatherland,  the  first  among  Swedes  who  saw 
fit  to  fly  from  their  country,  because  there  was  no  room  for 
their  activity  in  the  new  order  of  things.  Bishop  Brask 
saw  his  country  never  more  again.  He  remained  for  a  time 
in  the  cloister  of  Olof,  at  Dantzic,  and  passed  the  rest  of 
his  life,  the  hope  of  a  return  becoming  more  and  more 
remote,  in  the  Cistercian  cloister  of  Landa,  in  the  arch 
bishopric  of  Gnesen,  where  he  closed  his  days,  on  July 
30th,  1539,  or  more  probably  a  year  sooner. 

Nothing  could  more  contribute  to  further  the  preaching 
of  the  gospel,  and  the  consequent  changes,  than  the  flight 
of  John  Magnus  and  Hans  Brask.  The  favorers  of  the  old 
faith  were  abandoned  by  those  who  should  have  supported 
and  led  them,  and  if  the  breach  could  only  be  stopped  by 
the  sacrifice  of  martyrs  for  the  popish  faith,  it  could  not  be 
expected  their  numbers  should  be  accounted  of,  when  the 
flock  was  deserted  by  its  chief  shepherds. 

The  events  of  the  year  1528,  also  showed  how  far  all 
hinderances  both  to  begin  and  prepare  the  new  order  of 
things,  were  removed. 

Without  further  waiting  for  confirmation  from  Home  or 
any  metropolis,  the  year  began  with  the  consecration  of  the 
bishops  of  Skara  and  Striingness,  elected  in  1522.  To 
these  was  noAv  added  Martin  Skytte,  the  bishop  elect  of 
Abo,  a  Dominican  monk,  and  vicar-general  of  the  order  in 
Sweden.  He  is  said  to  have  been  won  to  the  cause  of 
church  reform  during  his  foreign  journey,  and  for  this  in 
clination  to  have  acquired  the  confidence  of  king  Gustavus. 
Not  only  the  freedom  and  security  which  had  been  won  for 
the  land,  but  the  impatience  of  the  people,  urged  the  king 


244  IIISTOKY    OF    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

to  hasten  forward  the  consecration,  which  indeed  must  pre 
cede,  if  the  king's  own  coronation  was  to  be  performed 
according  to  ancient  practice.  The  bishops  elect,  at  least 
Magnus  of  Striingness,  were  in  doubt  and  hesitated.  Bat 
the  king  left  them  only  the  choice  between  consecration  or  abdica 
tion,  in  which  latter  case  he  would  endeavor  to  find  some 
other  for  the  office. 

The  three  bishops  were  consecrated  in  the  cathedral  of 
Striincjness,  on  the  5th  of  January,  1528,  by  bishop  Petrus 
Magni  of  "Westerns.  He  was  himself  consecrated  at  Rome, 
according  to  the  popish  ritual.  It  was  wished  not  to  break 
the  old  order  of  the  church,  although  the  unfounded  preten 
sions  of  the  Roman  bishop  were  set  aside.  By  this  cautious 
proceeding,  the  so-called  apostolic  succession  was  secured  to 
the  bishops  of  the  Swedish  protest-ant  church,  by  the  laying 
on  of  hands  by  an  already  consecrated  bishop.  This  suc 
cession  may  be  defined  to  be  the  continuance  of  the  line  of 
bishops  in  the  church,  in  an  unbroken  chain  from  the  apos 
tles  and  those  who,  by  the  laying  on  of  their  hands,  were 
first  ordained  bishops  of  the  church.  If  the  consecration 
of  the  bishops  consecrated  in  the  year  1528,  was  not  canon 
ical,  that  is,  in  conformity  with  a  law  of  the  church  which 
directed  it  to  be  performed  by  three  or  two  bishops,  yet  had 
this  a  meet  apology  as  a  case  of  necessity.  In  the  absence 
of  the  bishop  of  "Wexio,  no  more  ordaincrs  could  be  pro 
cured,  provided  bishop  Vincentius,  who  was  then,  it  is  prob 
able,  either  in  Sweden  or  Finland,  is  not  asked  for.  Petrus 
Magni  for  some  time  refused  to  perform  this  office,  because 
the  elect  were  not  confirmed  by  the  pope.  Laurentius 
Andreas  could  not  induce  him  to  consent,  till  he  had  given 
a  promise  that  the  newly  consecrated  bishops  should  them 
selves  seek  this  confirmation,  and  make  an  apology  for  Peter 
at  the  Roman  chair. 

Eight  days   after,    the   king's    coronation  took  place  in 
Upsala,  at  which   the  newly  consecrated  bishops  officiated. 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  245 

It  created  remark,  and  soon  after  objections,  that  the  rela 
tions  of  the  church  having  been  settled  when  the  king  placed 
the  crown  on  his  head  as  the  estates  had  desired,  he  omitted 
the  oath  customary  at  a  coronation,  to  protect  the  holy 
church  and  her  people. 

The  remark  and  dissatisfaction  of  the  popishly  disposed, 
certainly  called  forth  the  sermon  which  Olaus  Petri  made 
upon  the  occasion.  It  was  an  exhortation  to  the  king  and 
his  subjects.  The  former  was  admonished,  among  other 
things,  to  watch  over  the  pure  doctrines  of  God  within  the 
land.  "  As  the  king  ought  to  punish  his  stewards  and 
officers,  when  they  abuse  their  trust,  so  ought  he  to  have 
oversight  of  the  bishops  and  priests  in  his  land,  when  they  are 
neglectful  of  what  is  committed  to  them,  that  "is,  when  they 
do  not  faithfully  make  known  the  word  of  God,  as  they  ought 
to  do.  Yea  rather,  he  ought  to  punish  them,  since  from 
their  mismanagement  follows  the  greater  hurt,  in  proportion 
as  the  soul  is  better  than  the  body."  On  the  duties  of  sub 
jects  it  is  said :  "As  it  is  to  the  injury  of  many  men  that 
the  king  should  misuse  his  power,  so  is  it  to  the  injury  and 
ruin  of  many,  that  a  part  should  withhold  the  obedience  they 
owe  to  their  king,  and  of  the  default  of  which — may  God 
amend  it — we  have  had  too  much  evidence  in  Sweden.  But 
him  who  has  been  at  the  root  of  this  we  have  taken  in  hand. 
Doubtless  they  who  have  withdrawn  their  obedience  to  the 
powers  that  be,  under  pretence  of  privileges  and  liberty,  and 
have  adopted  a  new  rule  for  themselves,  had  nothing  to 
gain  by  the.  king.  This  is  evidently  contrary  to  what  St. 
Paul  says,  that  every  man  shall  be  in  subjection  to  the 
powers  that  be  ;  he  excepts  no  one,  pope,  prelate,  or  bishop." 
Thus  was  consecrated  the  new  reign,  with  an  open  re 
jection  of  the  former  position  of  the  church.  From  that 
day  the  Swedish  throne  rests  on  a  protestant  basis. 

The  liberty  of  teaching,  which  was  granted  at  "Westerns 
the  previous  year,  was    used,  in   1528,  by  the  reformers^ 


24G  HISTORY    OF    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

especially  Olaus  Pctri,  to  settle  and  confirm  the  principles 
of  those  who  leaned  to  the  Reformation,  by  a  multitude 
of  small  treatises.  Many  such  productions  on  various  sub 
jects,  by  Olaus  Petri,  came  out  in  the  course  of  the  year, 
nnd  one  from  the  pen  of  Laurentius  Andreas. 

The  first  of  Olof 's  writings  was  again  called  forth  by  the 
Danish  Carmelite  monk,  Paulus  Elia3.  The  questions  of 
king  Gustavus  being  circulated,  had  also  fallen  into  his 
hands.  He  published,  in  1528,  an  answer  furnished  with 
a  preface  and  appendix,  after  he  had  read  the  answers  of 
Peter  Galle  and  Olof,  being  of  opinion  that  neither  of  these 
had  given  the  right  reply,  "  because  the  one  could  not,  and 
the  other  would  not."  They  were  also  deemed  by  Paul  to 
have  each  be'en  obstinate  in  opinion,  and  not  to  have  done 
justice  to  the  parts  they  were  to  perform.  He  was  yet  to 
learn  how  little  availed  a  temporizing  policy. 

Paulus  Eli;?,  who  frequently  quotes  the  predictions  of 
St.  Bridget  now  about  to  be  fulfilled,  and  who  attempts 
to  flatter  the  king,  by  declaring  that  he  did  not  believe  his 
sovereign  to  have  proposed  the  questions  with  any  evil  de 
sign,  but  for  the  purpose  of  making  known  and  pointing 
out  the  heresy,  closes  his  tract  or  answer,  with  twelve 
questions  put  to  the  king,  manifestly  referring  to  the  decree 
of  Westeras.  The  general  tenor  of  these  twelve  questions 
may  be  comprised  in  the  one,  whether  that  constitution  of 
the  church  and  its  hierarchal  power,  cannot  and  ought  not 
to  subsist,  with  which  the  civil  constitution  and  royal  power 
can  rightly  possess  its  due  stability,  in  other  words,  whether 
that  ecclesiastial  regimen  ought  not  to  endure  which  is  best 
consistent  with  the  civil  regimen  ? 

It  was  this  question  which  called  forth  the  answer  of 
Olaus  Pctri,  dated  May  27th,  1528,  in  which,  with  strength 
and  clearness,  and  in  a  manner  hardly  expected  in  dealing 
with  his  adversary,  he  beats  down  his  positions.  As  Olof, 
a  few  years  before,  had  with  youthful  presumption  an- 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  247 

nounced,  that  no  one  before  him  preached  the  truth  in 
Sweden,  the  following  expressions  in  his  treatise  merit  ob 
servation,  as  an  evidence  of  liis  meaning,  and  how  entirely  he 
was  attached  to  that  conservatism  which  is  a  striking  feature 
in  the  Reformation  of  the  Swedish  church.  "  You  have 
never  proved  that  St.  Ansgarius  and  St.  Sigfrid  taught  us  to 
believe,  that  bishops  and  prelates  were  to  lay  aside  their 
proper  office  in  order  to  rule  castles,  lands,  and  cities,  to  tax 
us  with  their  indulgences,  to  oppress  us  with  their  self-derived 
bans,  interdicts,  and  the  like.  First  prove  that  they  brought 
such  a  faith  into  the  land,  and  then  that  we  have  deviated 
from  the  faith  they  brought  us.  These  good  men  brought 
us  the  holy  gospel  of  Christ,  the  pure  and  precious  word 
of  God,  and  showed  themselves  faithful  according  to  the 
grace  which  God  gave  them,  and  taught  us  that  we  should 
firmly  abide  by  God's  promise  and  word,  put  our  dependence 
on  the  death  and  pains  of  Christ,  who  has  made  atonement 
for  us  to  his  Father  in  heaven  whom  we  had  offended,  and 
who  has  gained  for  us  everlasting  life.  On  this  should  we 
believe,  and  place  our  trust,  and  in  this  faith  have  mutual 
brotherly  love  and  do  good  to  one  another.  This  is  the 
faith  those  men  brought  here." 

We  will  not  repeat  the  positions,  which,  from  Olof's  an 
swer  have  been  sufficiently  apparent,  but  cannot  omit  the 
following  particular,  which  witnesses  Olof's  modesty  and 
sound  judgment,  alike.  Faulus  Elire  had  expressed  a  doubt 
of  the  truth  of  protestantism,  inasmuch  as  its  power  to  im 
prove  the  life  and  conversation  had  not  been  manifested. 
To  this  Olof  made  an  answer  which  was  not  needed  in  out 
ward  defence,  while  the  truth  of  the  church  was  confined  to 
doctrinal  controversy.  "You  say,  also,  that  you  yet  see 
great  sinners  among  those  who  have  fallen  off  from  the 
church  of  Home,  and  the  governors  appointed  by  Jesus 
Christ  in  the  land.  I  acknowledge  there  are  such  sinners 
The  old  Adam  rebels  and  draws  us  to  act 


248  HISTORY  OF  Tin-:  ECGLKSTASTICAIV 

against  the  commandments  of  God,  whether  we  will  or  not. 
But  the  case  between  us  depends  not  on  this  point.  We  dis 
pute  not  which  party  has  the  more  or  fewer  sinners.  We 
dispute  which  party  lias  the  true  doctrine.  We  defend  our 
doctrine  and  not  our  sinners.  The  saints,  Peter,  Paul,  John, 
and  the  other  apostles,  were  sinners,  as  themselves  confess* 
though  I  do  not  compare  our  life  with  theirs,  yet  they  had 
true  doctrine." 

Soon  after  appeared,  on  the  12th  of  June,  this  treatise 
of  Olof,  under  the  motto  i  "  A  good  shepherd  giveth  his 
life  for  the  sheep  ;"  and  another  also-  of  his  :  "  A  Chris 
tian  admonition  to  the  clergy  meeting  at  the  next  clerical 
councils  of  Upsala,  Striingnsess,  and  Westerns,  whereii* 
is  set  forth  what  the  clergy  owe  to  the  laity,  and  Avhat 
the  laity  to  the  clergy."  It  is  said  to  be  the  duty  of  priests 
to  the  laity  to  preach  the  word  of  God,  to  administer  the 
sacraments,  and  by  their  good  lives  to  set  a  good  example ;. 
of  the  laity  to  the  priests,  to  be  obedient,  to  judge  their 
failings  with  tenderness,  and  afford  them  a  proper  mainte 
nance.  The  purport  of  the  writings  of  the  reformers  was  to. 
inculcate  that  rents  and  tithes  were  given  for  preaching  and 
not  for  reading,  for  singing,  for  masses,  an/1  baptizing,  alt 
which  without  preaching  was  unprofitable.  It  was  a  snare  to 
the  soul  to  receive  tithes  without  preaching.  Priests  who 
could  not  do  this,  should  have  assistants,  for  above  all  there- 
should  be  preaching.  These  expressions  corresponded  with 
the  ordinantia  of  Wcsteras,  and  were  a  prognostic  of  the 
decree  passed  tlie  year  following  at  the  council  of  Orebro. 

But  this  treatise  of  Olof  was  also  designed  to  obviate 
one  of  the  consequences  of  the  treaty  of  Westcras ;  as  the 
people  began  to  refuse  payment  of  taxes  to  the  clergy.  The 
priests  had,  says  Olof,  previously  abused  the  Scriptures  to 
tax  laymen,  and  force  them  to  give  more  than  they  ought. 
Now,  in  their  turn,  laymen  abused  the  Scriptures  to  give 
their  clergy  less  than  they  ought,  or  nothing  at  alL  "  The 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  249 

one  desired,  on  authority  of  the  Scriptures,  to  have  all,  the 
other,  on  the  same  authority,  to  give  nothing."  Olof  wished, 
therefore,  to  show  what  the  Scriptures  truly  taught  and  com 
manded  in  this  respect.  \ 

A  few  months  after  the  diet  of  Westeras,  it  became  neces 
sary  to  inculcate  in  the  minds  of  the  people,  that  duties  and 
payments  should  be  made  to  the  clergy,  according  to  the  old 
customs  and  usages,  except  where  the  treaty  had  made  a 
change.  In  August,  1527,  the  king  was  obliged  to  warn 
the  people  against  a  perversion  of  the  treaty  and  ordinantia 
to  anarchy  and  selfishness.  In  the  beginning  of  1528,  these 
admonitions  were  renewed,  and  from  time  to  time,  during  al- 
jnost  the  whole  of  king  Gustavus's  reign,  and  with  increased 
earnestness.  In  a  letter  to  some  of  the  provinces  of  the 
kingdom,  in  1534,  it  is  said,  that  the  king  had  not  abrogated 
such  dues  to  priests ;  else  would  the  office  of  bishop  have  been 
abolished.  If  this  admonition  did  not  avail,  they  would  not 
be  allowed  the  privileges  of  Easter  as  they  now  enjoyed  them. 
This  was  a  threat  to  restore  the  usages  abrogated  at  Westeras 
in  1527,  and  repel  from  the  Lord's  Supper  those  who  refused 
to  pay  their  dues  to  the  clergy. 

Two  months  later  than  the  work  last  mentioned,  Olof 
was  ready,  August  14th,  with  another:  "A  small  book 
on  the  sacraments,  what  they  are,  and  how  they  may  prop 
erly  be  administered,  many  unchristian  appendages  being 
with  good  reason  laid  aside."  This  production  is,  of  all 
those  which  appeared  in  the  course  of  the  year,  the  most 
comprehensive  and  the  most  deeply  involving  a  doctrinal 
change.  It  treats  of  the  nature  of  a  sacrament,  of  baptism, 
of  the  forgiveness  of  sins,  of  confession,  of  the  distinction 
between  plain  and  mystical  language  in  Scripture,  of  auric 
ular  confession,  of  absolution,  penance,  and  vows,  of  indul 
gences,  of  the  election  and  consecration  of  priests,  and  how 
practised  in  apostolic  times,  of  confirmation,  extreme  unc 
tion,  marriage,  and  the  prohibited  degrees,  of  the  Lord's 

11* 


250  HISTOKY    OF    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

Supper,  and  how  far  Christ  made  in  this  sacrament  a  differ 
ence  between  priests  and  laymen,  of  the  carrying  the  body 
of  Christ  in  procession,  of  masses  as  a  sacrifice,  of  the 
spiritual  priesthood  of  all  Christians,  of  masses  and  prayers 
for  the  dead,  of  true  prayer,  and  of  purgatory.  The  views 
of  Olof  in  all  these  particulars  may  be  learned  and  under 
stood  from  his  answers  to  the  questions,  and  from  the  present 
existing  confession  and  usages  of  our  church. 

In  the  same  month  with  this  book,  appeared  also  Olof  s 
"  Instructions  respecting  marriage."  Olof  had  for  some 
time,  as  he  says,  had  it  in  contemplation  to  put  in  print 
something  on  the  subject  of  marriage,  but  for  the  sake  of 
weak  brethren  had  deferred  his  design.  But  as  a  knowledge 
of  the  truth  began  to  be  now  more  widely  spread,  "  so  that 
innumerable  many  now  embrace  the  gospel  of  Christ, 
who  were  at  first  firmly  opposed  to  it,"  he  would  no 
longer  procrastinate.  Under  three  heads,  that  marriage 
is  ordained  of  God,  is  permitted  to  all,  and  can  be  for 
bidden  by  none,  Olof  presents  an  exhortation  to  bishops 
and  prelates  to  grant  freedom  of  marriage  to  the  priests 
under  their  jurisdiction,  and  thus  put  a  stop  to  the  licen 
tiousness  which  then  existed  and  had  been  common  among 
them. 

In  the  zeal  which  led  Olof,  in  1528,  to  set  forth  general 
principles,  by  writings  which  rapidly  succeeded  each  other, 
the  conventual  life  was  a  topic  not  to  be  neglected.  A  small 
volume,  therefore,  came  out  in  November.  Its  purport  was 
apparent  from  its  motto  :  "  They  shall  proceed  no  further, 
for  their  folly  shall  be  manifest  to  all  men." 

Not  only  as  a  controversial  writing,  but  as  a  picture  of 
the  times,  this  treatise  is  of  great  value.  After  some  notices 
of  the  origin  of  the  cloistral  life,  and  of  the  different  orders, 
with  their  badges,  the  author  enters  upon  an  examination 
of  the  three  vows,  which  he  finds  in  part  contradictory  to  the 
command  of  God,  in  part  binding  upon  all  men.  A  special 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  251 

chapter  is  bestowed  upon  the  mendicant  monks.*  In  four 
teen  points  are  developed  the  injuries  brought  on  Chris 
tianity  by  the  cloistral  life,  from  which  emanated  divisions 
and  schisms,  seduction  of  children  in  disobedience  to  their 
parents,  the  enticement  of  people  from  faith  and  reliance  on 
Christ,  and  the  evil  example  which  followed  from  the  prac 
tice  of  begging.  The  hideous  occurrences  in  Switzerland, 
in  1507,  when  four  Dominican  monks,  agreeably  to  n 
pretended  revelation  of  the  Virgin  Mary,  bored  through  the 
hands,  feet,  and  side  of  a  brother  of  their  cloister,  are  not 
forgotten  in  his  picture  of  the  evils  consequent  upon  the 
conventual  life. 

The  admonition  given  to  the  tenants  of  convents  to  go 
back  into  civil  life,  and  the  sooner  the  better,  and  to  all 
those  who  had  children,  friends  or  relations,  to  aid  them  in 
such  a  purpose,  was,  in  a  word,  the  very  end  that  the  king 
and  Laurentius  Andreas,  in  their  treatment  of  monasteries, 
had  in  view. 

The  list  of  Olof  's  writings  during  this  year,  closing  on 
December  18th,  concludes  with  the  words :  "  Of  God's 
word  and  man's  ordinances,  which  in  spiritual  things  are 
the  rule  of  life  for  the  soul."  This  treatise,  which  purposes 
to  lay  for  the  teachers  of  the  Reformation  a  religious  philo 
sophical  foundation,  merits  a  particular  attention.  It  was 
by  no  means  desired  to  have  a  rupture  with  the  faith  and 
discipline  of  the  church,  but  to  guard  against  the  abuse 
of  them.  God's  everlasting  wisdom  and  counsel,  it  is  here 
declared,  in  which  his  inscrutable  providence  makes  itself 
known,  is  his  word,  in  whom  all  his  will  and  purpose  are 
contained,  through  whom  also  he  has  created  all  things. 
For  all  that  he  has  created,  he  has  created  as  from  eternity 

*  "When  the  devil  was  let  loose  after  a  thousand  years,  mentioned  by  St. 
John,  he  waked  up  the  begging  orders,  so  that  God  has  suffered  the  world  to 
be  plagued  with  the  mendicant  monks,  as,  in  the  Old  Testament,  he  plagued 
E;jypt  with  frogs  and  grasshoppers." 


252  HISTORY    OF    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

he  determined  to  create  it.  Thus,  God's  wisdom,  decree, 
.and  counsel,  are  called  in  Scripture  God's  word,  God's  Son, 
God's  heart,  God's  mind,  God's  arm.  No  one  knows  the 
Father  but  the  Son.  He  who  shall  know  the  Father  has 
of  necessity  God's  word  and  wisdom.  He  who  has  this 
wisdom  and  science  has  everlasting  life.  Thus  everlasting 
life  comes  from  God's  word.  But  where  the  Father  and 
Son  are,  there  also  is  the  Holy  Ghost,  for  He  is  the  love 
wherewith  the  Father  loves  the  Son.  There  love  is,  where 
he  is  diffused  and  manifested,  as  God  in  all  creatures  has 
manifested  his  love. 

As  long  as  men  had  this  word,  they  had  truth  and  life, 
hut  when  they  turned  away  from  him  they  came  to  lies  and 
death.  But  when  God  willed  to  recover  men  he  willed  that 
his  inward  word,  which  he  has  in  his  heart,  should  become 
man,  and  so  be  declared  in  the  outward  word,  of  which 
men  shall  be  enabled  to  conceive  the  meaning,  and  from 
which  they  derive  life  and  truth.  But  if  the  Holy  Ghost 
does  not  infuse  into  the  hearts  of  men  the  outward  word, 
it  cannot  be  comprehended  or  understood.  TJte  out/card 
word  is  contained  in  the  Bible.  To  this  nothing  can  be  added 
and  from  it  nothing  subtracted.  For  it  is  impossible  that 
the  word  of  God,  which  is  his  eternal  wisdom,  and  the 
reason  of  sinful  man  should  be  of  equal  value  :  for  through 
Adam's  sin  man  is  fallen  from  God,  who  is  wisdom,  unto 
vanity  and  foolishness.  His  thoughts  are  not  equivalent  to 
the  word  of  God,  therefore  they  cannot  be  added  thereto, 
unless  we  would  mingle  truth  with  lies.  All  that  is  not 
founded  on  Holy  Scripture  is  the  commandment  of  men,  and 
is  no  rule  of  action  for  the  soul.  It  is  said  that  the  Holy 
Ghost  directs  the  church,  and  protects  it  from  error,  but  it 
must  first  be  declared  what  the  church  is,  "  for  the  ordi 
nances  of  men  have  given  us  the  benefit  of  not  knowing  what 
the  church  is."  If  thereby  is  meant  the  society  of  men 
who  have  the  Holy  Ghost  there  can  be  no  mistake,  but  if, 


REFORMATION   IN    SWEDEN.  253 

as  is  common,  be  thereby  meant  the  pope,  cardinals,  bishops, 
prelates  and  all  ecclesiastics,  this  church,  which  is  corporeal, 
has,  in  many  of  its  part?,  been  in  error.  The  crafty  devices 
of  men  are  now,  for  the  most  part,  made  to  be  the  worship 
of  God.  The  fathers  of  the  church,  councils,  tradition,  are 
of  value  only  if  they  have  the  Scriptures  with  them. 

To  the  year  1528,  must  be  assigned  one  of  Olof 's  pro 
ductions  :  "  A  short  introduction  to  the  Holy  Scriptures," 
which  develops  sundry  points,  as  what  the  law,  gospel, 
and  faith  of  Christ,  are. 

But  Olof  labored  at  the  same  time  to  gain  an  opportunity 
for  having  divine  service  in  the  Swedish  tongue.  It  is  prob 
able  that,  in  the  course  of  this  year,  first  made  their  ap 
pearance,  the  psalms  in  Swedish,  which,  with  additions, 
became  the  basis  of  the  present  psalm  book  of  the  Swedish 
church.  At  this  time,  also,  mention  is  made  of  the  postils, 
which,  for  the  aid  and  direction  of  the  clergy,  Olof  translated 
from  the  German,  and  which,  in  1530.  came  out  complete, 
with  the  addition  of  a  short  catechism. 

In  recording  the  protostant  productions  of  the  year  1528, 
we  cannot  omit  a  short  treatise  by  Laurentius  Andreoe,  the 
only  one  with  certainty  known  to  be  his  :  "  A  brief  instruc 
tion  on  faith  and  good  works."  Its  purport  is  to  show  the 
injustice  of  their  reproaches,  who  say  that  good  works  are 
rejected  and  made  of  no  account,  when  faith  is  exalted  as  that 
through  which  alone  we  are  justified.  That  is  not  the  case. 
We  are  obligated  to  do  good  works,  but  we  are  not  to  place 
our  dependence  on  them.  "  Good  works  make  no  man  good, 
but  on  the  other  hand,  a  good  man  does  good  works." 

This  review  exhibits  the  compass  and  indefatigable  zeal  } 
of  Olaus  Pctri  as  an  author,  during  the  year  which  followed 
the  diet  of  "Westerns.  The  soil  was  opened  and  prepared 
to  receive  the  seed,  and  the  men  of  truth  neglected  it  not. 
Including  the  coronation  sermon,  there  appeared  within  the 
year  at  least  nine  larger  or  smaller  productions  from  the 


2o4  HISTORY   OF. THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

pen  of  Olof.  This  activity  would  be  still  more  surprising, 
did  we  not  consider,  that  the  previous  year  gave  him  oppor 
tunity  for  quiet  preparation,  and  that  these  writings  were 
in  a  measure  translated  or  compiled.  AVe  do  not  regard  it 
as  worth  while  to  examine  into  the  relative  labor  he  be 
stowed  on  each  of  them.  This  fancy  for  searching  out  the 
foreign  origin  of  every  Swedish  book  is  of  little  consequence, 
when  we  are  concerned  with  the  opinions  and  efficacy  con 
nected  with  these  writings. 

The  general  views  contained  in  them  were  of  a  protestant 
complexion,  and  there  is  no  question  that  Olaus  Petri  and 
Laurentius  Andreas  were  mighty  men  in  the  principles  com 
mon  to  protestants,  and  in  their  mother  tongue,  being  in  a 
great  degree  its  framers,  so  that  it  may  well  be  supposed 
they  showed  a  spirit  of  independence  in  their  explanation 
of  those  principles.  While  these  writings  were  being  spread 
it  the  land,  king  Gustavus  issued  his  directions  to  the  clergy 
to  make  themselves  acquainted  with  the  word  of  God  out 
of  certain  portions  of  the  Holy  Scripture,  and  to  promulgate 
tliem  among  their  hearers. 

The  following  year  bore  the  fruit  of  this  seed  corn  of  the 
word,  and  serious  efforts  were  also  employed  to  stop  its 
growth. 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  255 


CHAPTER    IV. 

THE    COUNCIL    OF    OREBRO     IN    1529— DISSATISFACTION— FLIGHT    OP 
BISHOP  MAGNUS  OF  SKARA. 

ON  the  25th  of  November,  1528,  king  Gustavus  issued  a 
summons  for  an  ecclesastical  council  to  be  opened  at  Orebro, 
at  Candlemas,  February  2d,  1529.  The  prelates  and  learned 
men  of  the  church  were  to  assemble,  to  determine  on  what 
Avas  necessary  for  the  improvement  of  the  church  and  unity 
in  her  usages. 

At  this  council,  Laurentius  Andrese,  archdeacon  of 
Upsala,  acted  as  president,  "  in  behalf  and  right  of  the/ 
archbishopric,"  and  as  plenary  envoy  of  king  Gustavus. 
That  the  presidency  was  assigned  to  the  archiepiscopal  see 
gave  the  council  the  legal  form  of  a  provincial  synod,  al 
though  certainly  not  because  the  council  was  held  during  a 
vacancy  of  that  see  or  the  voluntary  absence  of  its  occu 
pants.  That  the  king  had  his  envoy  at  the  council  was 
not  uncommon,  but  it  was  uncommon  that  the  envoy  and 
president  of  the  council  should  be  one  and  the  same  person. 

There  were  present  at  the  council  three  bishops,  Magnus 
Haraldsson  of  Skara,  Magnus  Sommar  of  Striingness,  aiut- 
Petrus  Magni  of  Westeras.  The  representatives  or  depot ics 
from  the  two  other  bishops  to  be  found  in  the  land,  Ingcmar 
of  Wexio,  and  Martin  Skytte  of  Abo,  are  not  named.  The 
diocese  of  Abo  was  now,  as  often  before,  not  at  all  repre 
sented. 

The   list   of  the   chapters,    parish    priests  and  monastic 


2u6  HISTORY    OP    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

orders,  named  as  present  or  represented,  is  as  follows: 
From  Upsala  two  clergymen,  canons,  and  John  Kokemastere, 
bastor  of  the  church  in  Stockholm,  with  Olaus  Petri,  secre- 
•tary  of  the  council  of  that  city.  From  Linkoping,  one 
prelate,  the  cantor  Erik  Magni,  the  same  who  was  chosen 
by  bishop  Brask  and  the  chapter  of  Linkoping  to  take  part 
in  the  translation  of  the  New  Testament,  two  canons,  of 
whom  Thorer  Magni  was  one,  with  the  pastors  of  the 
churches  in  Soderkoping,  Skcninge  and  Wadsten.  From 
Skara,  two  prelates,  the  provost  Sven  Jacobi,  soon  after  made 
bishop  of  that  see,  and  the  archdeacon  Magnus  Arnbcrni, 
with  two  canons  and  the  pastor  of  Loclose.  From  Striingness, 
four  canons,  of  whom  two  were  besides  pastors  of  Nyk  oping 
and  Kumla,  with  the  pastor  of  Orebro.  From  Westerns, 
three  canons,  of  whom  two  were  also  pastors  of  Fellingbro 
and  Leksand,  and  to  these  were  added  the  preachers  of 
Westeras  and  Arboga,  with  the  pastor  of  Rattvik.  From 
Wexio,  two  canons,  one  of  whom  was  the  Gudmund  Spegel 
mentioned  in  a  former  page.  The  monkish  orders  were 
represented  by  the  vicar  and  two  brethren  of  the  Domini 
cans,  a  confessor  and  two  brothers  from  the  cloister  of 
Wadsten,  with  a  custos  and  a  brother  from  the  Minorites. 
The  names  thus  counted,  were  therefore,  in  amount,  three 
bishops,  nineteen  canons,  of  whom  four  held  prelacies, 
eleven  pastors  of  sundry  the  chief  parishes  of  the  sees 
among  whom  some  were  canons,  three  preachers,  among 
whom  Olaus  Petri  was  numbered,  and  eight  monks.  There 
were  also  many  other  clergymen  present  at  the  council, 
although  of  their  names  and  titles  we  have  no  informa 
tion.  Among  the  name?  of  the  forty  men  who  took  part  in 
the  council  of  Orebro,  the  thirty,  bishops,  canons  and  monks. 
men  of  standing  in  the  church,  who  were  deeply  interested 
in  the  direction  which  church  reform  began  now  to  take, 
may  serve  to  illustrate  the  quality  and  character  of  the 
council,  a  circumstance  of  the  greater  consequence,  as,  with 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  257 

the  exception  of  the  decree  there  passed,  information  is 
wanting  of  the  course  pursuer!  by  an  assembly  so  important 
to  the  church's  future. 

The  proceedings  were  neither  diffused  nor  of  long  contin 
uance.  The  council  met,  on  February  2d,  and  its  decree 
was  passed  February  7th,  five  days  after.  The  work  of  a 
century  is  without  verbosity  summed  up  in  a  decree. 

The  decree  now  framed  at  Orebro,  may  be  divided  into 
three  heads.  1.  Of  the  preaching  of  God's  word.  2.  Of 
the  church  constitution  and  discipline.  3.  Of  church  usages. 

In  regard  to  the  preaching  of  God's  word,  the  members 
of  the  council  confessed  themselves  bound  by  their  office  to 
propagate,  spread,  and  advance  it.  They  would,  therefore, 
provide  that  over  the  whole  kingdom,  in  all  its  churches,  the 
word  should  be  preaclbcd  purely  and  without  molestation. 
The  bishops  obligated  themselves  to  pay  special  attention 
that  the  parish  priests  within  their  dioceses,  with  the  hazard 
else  of  losing  their  benefices,  should  either  preach  God's  pure 
word,  or  if  they  could  not  do  so,  allow  it  to  be  done  by  others 
"versed  in  tlie  Holy  Scriptures."  By  this  last  expression, 
it  was  more  plainly  than  at  Westerns  declared,  that  in  the 
Holy  Scriptures  alone  the  word  of  God  was  to  be  found. 
To  promote  an  acquaintance  with  the  Scriptures  there  should 
daily  be  had  a  lection  of  some  portions  of  them,  "with  a 
good  and  true  explanation."  This  Bible  illustration  should 
be  frequented  by  the  parish  priests,  in  order  "  to  become 
learned  in  the  word  of  God."  There  was  also  to  be  ini. 
cathedral  schools  a  daily  reading  of  the  Scriptures.  On 
such  occasions,  the  priests  who  were  cross-bearers,  and  the 
candidates  for  the  priesthood,  were  always  or  sometimes  to 
be  present,  that  the  Holy  Scriptures  might  be  read  in  their 
ears.  The  times  of  the  cathedral  service  were  to  be  so 
regulated,  that  there  might  be  leisure  for  this.  The  bishops 
were  to  take  heed,  that  for  the  scholars  there  should  be 
books  of  the  New  Testament  in  Latin,  and  that  learned  men 


258  HISTORY    OF    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

should  be  appointed  as  pastors  of  churches  in  towns,  to 
whom  the  priests  in  the  neighborhood  might  resort  for  in 
struction  in  the  word  of  God,  and  who  should  travel  about 
and  preach  in  country  congregations.  ^  To  furnish  oppor 
tunity  for  more  general  instruction,  and  probably  also  to 
produce  an  effect  on  the  occupants  of  monasteries,  it  was 
ordered,  that,  in  the  churches  belonging  to  monasteries 
situated  in  towns,  there  should  be  preaching  only  in  the 
afternoon,  so  that  there  might  be  a  better  attendance  on  the 
preaching  in  the  town  church  during  the  morning.  Priests 
were  forbidden  mutually  to  recriminate  each  other  in  the 
pulpit.  If  any  found  fault  with  the  Reaching  of  another, 
he  should  give  him  his  opinion  in  private,  that  scandal 
among  the  people  might  not  be  the  result  of  an  opposite 
course.  The  Lord's  prayer,  the  creed,  the  hail  Mary,  were 
to  be  repeated  before  every  sermon,  "for  the  benefit  of 
young  and  simple  people,"  as  also  the  ten  commandments 
once  or  twice  a  month.  All  preachers  were  to  begin  and 
end  their  sermons  in  the  same  manner. 

The  second  division  contains,  under  seven  articles,  direc 
tions  relating  to  the  discipline  and  order  of  the  church. 

1.  The  first  treats  of  scholars  going  about  in  parishes  to 
collect  alms,  a  subject  on  which  canons  were  often  passed 
in  the  councils  of  the  Swedish  church  during  the  middle 
ages.  Thus,  for  example,  it  was  decreed  at  the  provincial 
council  of  Arboga,  in  1412,  that  priests  should  confine  the 
scholars  found  in  the  houses  of  the  country  people  beyond 
the  appointed  time,  and  were  to  transfer  their  collections  to 
the  nearest  schoolmaster,  for  the  use  of  his  poor  pupils. 
In  the  diocese  of  Abo,  this  going  about  in  parishes  to  collect 
alms,  was,  in  1489,  prohibited,  and  the  clergy  of  the  chapter 
were  requested  to  receive  what  "  the  friends  of  God  "  were 
willing  to  give,  and  this  the  chapter  was  to  apportion  ac 
cording  to  merit.  The  reason  assigned  was,  that  the  schol 
ars,  by  long  journeys  through  the  country,  neglected  their 


*  REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  259 

studies,  practised  manifold  artifices  among  the  people, 
preached  to  simple  persons  in  a  false  and  unreasonable  man 
ner  respecting  indulgences,  and  were  guilty  of  other  im 
proper  practices. 

On  similar  grounds  the  decree  was  passed  at  Orebro,  that 
scholars  should  not  long  be  allowed  to  collect  alms  about 
the  country,  to  prevent  their  spreading  lies  among  the  peo 
ple  for  their  own  selfish  views,  and  that  the  priests  of  the 
parishes  where  they  were  sent,  should  have  an  eye  over 
them. 

2.  The   second  article  says :  "  As  the  law  of  the  pope 
forbids  some  to  enter  into  marriage  whom  God  has  not  for 
bidden,  it  is  determined  to  dispense  with  this  law,  for  hon 
est  reasons,  provided  scandal  be  avoided  as  far  as  possible." 
This  point  was  one  of  the  few  plain  protests  against  popery, 
which  had  been  yet  openly  uttered  in  Sweden.     From  what 
was  done  at  Westeras  it  appears  that  the  right  of  dispensa 
tion  was  given  to  the  bishops  and  chapters.     But  that  there 
\vas  no  renunciation  of  the  pope's  law,  but  merely  a  dispen 
sation  from  it,  is  another  proof  of  the  caution  used  in  the 
measures  adopted. 

3.  As  the  bond  of  previously  existing  laws  was  now 
loosened,  the  penitentiaries  of  cathedrals  were  allowed  the 
right  of  taking  such  a  course  with  oii'enders,  as  they  deemed 
most  advisable,  "  and  they  might  use  any  degree  of  severity 
with  murderers  and  other  heinous   transgressors,    as    the 
worldly  sword  appears  to  be  idle,  and  has  not  the  force  it 
ought  to  have." 

4.  The  cloisters,  which,  in    1527,  were,  as  to  their  out 
ward  discipline,  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  king,  were  now, 
as  to  their  spiritual  relations,  placed  under  the  care  of  the 
bishops.     The  monks,  it  is  declared,  shall  be  under  obedience 
to  the  bishops,  especially  in  matters  that  appertain  to  the 
preaching  of  the  gospel. 

5.  The  number  of  saints'  days  shall,  by  each  bishop  in 
his  diocese,   be  diminished  as  circumstances  admit.     The 


260  HISTORY    OF    THE -ECCLESIASTICAL    . 

reason  given  was,  that  there  were  more  saints'  days  than  ne 
cessary,  that  they  gave  occasion  to  many  sins,  and  were  in 
jurious  to  the  body  politic.  "  The  peculiar  high  festivals 
of  our  Lord,  of  the  Virgin  Mary,  of  the  apostles,  and  the 
days  of  patron  saints,"  were  to  be  kept. 

In  conclusion,  it  was  decreed  that  where  there  were  many 
parish  churches  in  the  same  town,  they  should  be  placed 
under  the  control  of  one  pastor,  and  that  bishops  should  not, 
without  weighty  cause,  give  commissions  for  begging. 

The  third  division  treats  of  the  true  explanation  of 
church  ceremonies.  The  council  did  not  enter  into  an  ex 
amination  of  the  truth  of  the  doctrine  of  confession,  but 
laid  it  down  as  a  maxim,  that  the  words  of  the  Bible,  now 
released  from  bondage,  should  accompany  and  explain  what 
was  truth  upon  the  subject.  It  aimed  to  assist  the  erring- 
eyes  of  the  sons  of  the  church,  to  recall  the  worship  of  God, 
which  stood  in  outward  ordinances,  to  a  worship  of  Him  in 
spirit  and  in  truth.  The  outward  usages  of  the  church, 
which  now  existed  and  expressed  the  life  of  pietv,  were  not 
suddenly  and  violently  to  be  removed  ;  they  were  on  the  con 
trary  to  furnish  a  text  for  the  preaching  of  the  truth. 

We  present  this  part  of  the  council's  decree  in  its  own 
words :  "  As  many  abuses  and  erroneous  views  have  been 
entertained  respecting  the  customary  ceremonies,  we  here 
give  an  account  of  some  of  them,  and  explain  their  true 
purpose.  First :  consecrated  water  is  not  used  for  the  sake 
of  taking  away  sins,  for  that  the  blood  of  Christ  alone 
effects  ;  but  it  shall  be  borne  in  mind  that  we  are  baptized 
and  sprinkled  with  the  blood  of  Christ.  Ima-gcs  are  used, 
not  for  the  purpose  of  courtesying  and  bowing  down  to,  but 
for  a  remembrance  of  Christ  and  holy  men.  The  palm 
branch  is  not  consecrated,  not  used,  that  men  should  take 
comfort  in  it,  but  in  memory  that  the  people  strewed  palm 
branches  in  the  way  of  Christ,  when  he  entered  Jeru 
salem.  Candlemas  lights  arc  not  used  for  any  special 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  261 

worship  of  God,  not  given  as  possessing  any  special  power, 
but  in  memory  that  the  true  light,  Jesus  Christ,  was  offered 
in  the  temple.  Anointing,  or  chrism,  is  not  used  for  any 
power  it  possesses,  but  to  be  an  outward  sign  of  an  inward 
unction,  which  is  effected  by  the  Holy  Ghost.  The-  ring 
ing  of  bells  is  only  used  that  the  people  may  be  called  to 
gcther.  Church  structures  are  kept  up,  not  for  any  peculiar 
sanctity  in  themselves  for  the  worship  of  God,  but  that  men 
may  meet  together  there,  and  learn  God's  word.  God 
dwells  not  in  houses  built  by  men's  hands.  Consecrated 
churches,  consecrated  salt,  meat,  and  the  like,  arc  not  in 
themselves  any  the  better,  but  they  are  consecrated  to  re 
mind  us  that  such  things  should  not  be  abused  by  us ;  so 
that  the  calling  of  God's  name  over  them,  is  to  improve  us, 
not  the  thing  consecrated.  So  should  the  people  be  taught, 
that  they  should  rather  give  the  poor  lights  than  place  them 
before  images.  Fast  days  are  kept,  not  as  a  special  wor 
ship  done  to  God,  but  to  tame  our  lustful  bodies.  Saints' 
days  are  observed,  that  men  may  have  a  time  to  hear  God's 
word,  and  rest  from  their  toils,  not  as  a  special  worship 
done  to  God.  The  people  shall  be  taught  that  the  ceremo 
nies  of  Good  Friday  and  Easter,  are  only  in  remembrance 
of  Christ.  It  is  also  necessary  that  the  people  be  instruct 
ed  with  regard  to  pilgrimages,  that,  although  such  was 
scarcely  their  origin,  their  meaning  is  that  the  people  should 
go  where  they  can  gain  better  instruction  than  at  home  ;  so 
that  pilgrimages  are  for  the  sake  of  good  doctrine,  and  not 
for  an  especial  worship  done  to  God,  or  to  obtain  indul 
gence  which  can  be  obtained  in  all  places,  for  God  is  as 
much  in  one  place  as  another.  The  like  instruction  shall 
be  given  the  people  beforehand,  who  will  then  not  seek  for 
it  abroad." 

That  besides  the  subjects  which  the  decree  of  the  council 
contains,  others  also  were  either  discussed,  or  through  the 
decree  became  established,  will  appear  from  what  follows. 


262  HISTORY    OF   THE   ECCLESIASTICAL 

It  will  be  evidenced  from  these,  no  less  than  from  the  open 
measures  adopted  and  published,  that,  for  the  first  time,  after 
the  council  of  Orebro,  the  favorers  of  the  old  church  disci 
pline  began  to  dread  that  it  was  to  be  shaken  to  the  foun 
dation.  So  little  was  commonly  foreboded  of  the  conse 
quences  of  the  diet  of  Westerns,  held  somewhat  more  than 
half  a  year  before,  or  so  commonly  admitted  was  the  neces 
sity  of  the  reforms  there  adopted,  or  so  sure  were  men  of 
the  views  which  would  be  current  at  Orebro,  that  the  result 
of  that  council  awakened  astonishment  in  many  of  the 
friends  of  the  papacy.  It  seems  to  have  been  expected,  that 
after  the  necessary  improvements  in  the  condition  of  the 
church  were  allowed  and  confirmed  at  Westeras,  the  order 
would  now  be,  to  adopt  restraining  measures  against  heresy. 
Thus,  the  diary  of  the  cloister  of  "VVadsten,  mentions  that 
three  of  the  brethren  had,  on  the  26th  of  January,  gone,  by 
command  of  the  king,  to  the  council  of  Orebro  against  the 
Lutherans,  and  had,  on  February  12,  returned  "  in  conster 
nation." 

The  council  of  Orebro  also  held  the  middle  path  of  cau 
tion,  which  distinguishes  the  reformation  of  the  Swedish 
/church,  in  almost  all  its  progress.  It  was,  therefore,  natu- 
;  ral,  that  both  parties,  who  went  to  the  extreme  on  either 
j  side,  both  the  zealous  protestants  and  stubborn  papists, 
should  be.  dissatisfied.  The  former  thought  far  too  little 
done,  far  too  great  a  concession  to  error  to  have  been  made ; 
the  latter,  now  first  having  opened  their  eyes,  began  to  per 
ceive  where  the  current  of  the  times  was  leading  them. 

The  dissatisfaction  exploded  on  the  one  side,  though  in  a 
movement  of  less  consequence,  in  the  city  of  Stockholm, 
which  was  full  of  German  protestants ;  on  the  other  side, 
in  insurrections  throughout  many  provinces  of  the  king 
dom. 

When  the  representative  of  Stockholm  at  the  council  re 
turned  home,  he  found  the  German  merchants  of  the  city, 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  263 

and  a  German  preacher,  named  Tileman,  who  seema  to 
have  been  either  invited  or  favored  by  Laurcntius  Andrea?, 
pouring  out  reproaches  against  the  council  for  having  fallen 
away  from  the  Gospel,  and  returned  to  the  old  opinions 
because  it  allowed  image?,  holy  water,  palms,  and  other 
practices  to  be  continued.  In  vain  did  Olaus  Petri  and 
others  offer  the  apology,  that  circumstances  did  not  permit 
this  council  to  go  further,  "  that  one  must  travel  softly 
with  the  people  of  this  land,"  and  that  all  that  was  allow 
ed  might  well  be  borne  with,  and  was  not  contrary  to  the 
word  of  God.  Tileman  preached  openly  against  this  tol 
eration.  The  king  and  master  Lars  were  absent ;  but  the 
governor  of  the  castle,  and  burgomaster  of  Stockholm,  now 
less  crest-fallen  than  during  the  disturbance  of  the  anabap 
tists  five  years  before,  forbade  Tileman  to  preach  before  the 
coming  home  of  the  king,  and,  though  soon  setting  them  at 
liberty,  imprisoned  the  most  turbulent  of  the  Germans. 

In  an  opposite  direction,  were  the  insurrections  which 
occurred  in  this  year  in  many  other  places.  Of  very  lit 
tle  importance  were  the  attempts  of  Goran,  Thuresson 
provost  of  Upsala,  who  raised  commotions  in  Roslagen  and 
Helsingland.  More  menacing  was  the  insurrection  pro 
voked  about  the  same  time  in  West  Gothland,  by  Thure 
Jonsson  Roos,  father  of  provost  Goran,  'and  by  bishop  Mag 
nus  of  Skara  ;  the  object  of  the  bishops,  nobles,  and  priests 
engaged  in  it,  being  to  bring  back  the  old  order  of  things,  by 
the  election  of  another  king.  In  Smaland,  not  in  Warend, 
the  diocese  of  bishop  Ingemar,  but  in  the  district  under  the 
jurisdiction  of  the  see  of  Linkoping,  the  revolt  assumed  the 
character  of  a  dissatisfaction  with  the  changes  made  in  the 
church.  At  a  later  period,  after  the  insurrection  was 
stifled,  king  Gustavus  complains  of  the  provost  and  chapter 
of  Linkoping,  as  having  taken  part  in  it ;  although  this  con 
duct  of  theirs  does  not  correspond  to  the  commission  previ- 


264  HISTORY    OF   THE   ECCLESIASTICAL 

ously  given  them  by  the  king  to  negotiate  with  the  men  of 
Smaland. 

There  is  no  reason  to  be  assigned  for  the  supposition,  that 
the  spirit  of  the  insurrection,  although  fed  by  the  disorders 
of  long  continuance  throughout  the  kingdom,  presented  the 
condition  of  the  church  merely  as  a  cloak  for  the  leaders' 
ambition  and  thirst  of  revenge.  The  letter  which  was 
published  in  the  name  of  the  burgomaster  and  council  of 
.Tonkoping  and  the  people  of  Smaland,  exhibited  a  deep  in 
sight  into  the  true  position  of  the  case,  when  it  declared 
that  it  would  be  too  late  to  stop  the  reformation  of  the 
church,  if  active  measures  and  timely  precautions  were  not 
adopted.  The  danger  was  delineated  in  striking  colors,  and 
with  the  common  exaggeration,  which  makes  a  particular 
instance  current  as  a  general  rule.  It  was  known  to  all, 
what  an  unchristian  regimen  came  into  this  poor  kingdom 
by  means  of  the  Lutheran  heresy,  so  that  it  would  be  al 
together  ruined  if  no  good  counsel  were  found,  if  timely  and 
immediate  preventives  were  not  used.  Otherwise,  they  might 
all  become  heathens  and  damned.  In  Upland,  and,  indeed, 
the  whole  kingdom,  the  cloisters  were  either  laid  in  ruins,  or 
the  jewels  and  property,  the  pictures  and  images,  yea,  and 
the  very  tiles  from  the  shattered  buildings,  were  carried  off. 
Bishops,  prelates,  monks,  and  priests,  were  expelled  from 
their  homes,  that  the  king  might  come  at  their  goods  and 
tithes ;  heretics  and  recreant  runaway  monks  were  placed  as 
pastors  in  towns  and  all  over  the  land.  The  king  had  eaten 
meat  in  Lent,  and  even  induced  others  to  do  so.  lie  had 
also  broken  his  royal  oath.  The  mass  was  neglected  or 
abolished  in  Sweden.  Many,  in  Stockholm  and  all  over  the 
land,  made  a  laughing-stock  of  the  mass,,  of  the  saints  and 
their  images.  How  the  sacraments  were  debased  and  de 
praved,  and  the  good  old  Christian  customs  contemned,  is 
evident  from  the  books  which  the  king  permitted  the  last  winter 
to  be  published  on  the  sacraments.  They  had  punished  Gott- 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  265 

frid  Sure,  who  obtained  the  cloister  of  Nydala  in  investiture 
from  the  king,  and  they  invited  others  to  deal  in  the  same 
manner  with  robbers  of  the  sanctuary.  In  the  published 
letters,  the  insurgents  lay  all  the  blame  on  the  king.  But, 
by  those  whom  king  Gustavus  employed  to  negotiate  with 
them — either  it  was  really  so,  or  they  put  in  the  mouth 
of  the  insurgents  their  own  convictions  and  their  own  per 
sonal  spite — he  was  informed,  that  the  fury  of  the  rebels 
was  directed  against  Laurentius  Andrese  and  master  Olof, 
with  others  devoted  to  evangelical  principles.  In  East 
•Gothland  there  was  discontent  with  the  teachers,  who  from 
Upland  were  scattered  over  the  country,  and  whatever  was 
preached  or  printed  was  said  to  be  done  with  the  king's 
knowledge  and  consent.  Laurentius  Andreee,  in  particular, 
was  blamed  for  all  the  ill  will  the  people  harbored  against 
the  king.  He  had  used  some  violence  in  his  treatment  of 
the  cloisters  and  in  other  respects,  and  was  the  first  to 
advise  the  removal  of  the  jewels  and  other  chattels  of  those 
establishments,  shutting  them  up  that  no  masses  might  be 
said  within  their  walls.  This  he  had  done  in  Skeninge. 
They,  therefore,  propose  to  the  king,  to  sacrifice  this  coun 
sellor  to  appease  the  anger  of  the  people.  It  were  better 
that  he  alone  should  be  punished,  than  that  many  others 
should  suffer  for  his  sake. 

This  proposal  did  not  induce  king  Gustavus  to  withdraw 
his  confidence  from  the  man  who  guided  his  counsels  and 
resolves  in  the  affairs  of  %the  church.  The  insurrection  was 
quelled  in  the  course  of  some  weeks,  after  he  had  approved 
the  agreement,  which  in  his  behalf,  the  knights  Holger 
Karlsson  and  Mans  Johansson,  the  chapter  of  Linkoping, 
and  the  burgomasters  and  council  of  the  towns  of  East 
Gothland,  with  the  envoys  of  some  districts,  had  signed  with 
the  disaffected.  He  pledged  himself,  not  to  suffer  any  heresy 
to  be  introduced  into  the  kingdom  or  be  there  countenanced, 
not  to  allow  the  preaching  of  any  unchristian  doctrine  in- 

12 


266  HJSTOKY    OF    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

consistent  with  the  pure  word  of  God  and  ancient  Christian 
customs.  He  wished  to  abide  by  what  was  done  at  Westeras, 
and  by  what,  with  the  people's  full  approbation,  the  treaty 
contains. 

The  king  could,  without  double  dealing  in  word  or  act, 
accept  these  terms,  since  it  was  yet  undetermined  what  was 
heresy  or  pure  doctrine,  and  since  on  both  sides  it  was  ad 
mitted,  that  the  pure  word  of  God  was  the  fountain  of 
truth.  We  cannot  forbear  to  present  in  a  compendium  the 
declaration  he  laid  before  the  estates  of  the  kingdom  at  the 
diet  of  Strangness,  after  the  disturbances  were  quieted. 

The  king  went  into  a  copious  defence  of  the  treaty  of 
Westeras,  which  he  declared  it  to  be  his  wish  should  remain 
unaltered.  It  was  the  condition  on  which  he  took  the 
Swedish  crown.  It  would  be  contrary  to  his  wishes,  if  any 
other  doctrine  were  preached  in  the  kingdom  than  the  pure 
word  of  God  and  the  gospel,  the  preaching  of  which  the 
people  themselves  solicited  at  the  diet  of  Westeras.  .  He  was 
yet  desirous  that  learned  men  in  the  kingdom  should  meet 
together  and  investigate  the  subject.  Complaint  was  made 
of  his  having  broken  his  oath,  because  he  did  not  protect 
the  churchmen,  but  he  well  knew  that  it  was  the  duty  of  a 
king  to  punish  the  bad  and  countenance  the  good,  and  when 
he  did  this  he  fulfilled  his  oath,  "  to  protect  and  uphold  the 
church  and  churchmen,  that  is  to  say,  his  Christian  subjects,  since 
the  holy  church  is  no  other  than  the  congregation  of  Christian 
men  and  Christian  women."  Would  any  one  desire  to  inter 
pret  his  kingly  oath  as  confined  to  bishops,  prelates,  and 
priests,  and  consider  it  broken,  when  the  power  of  these  was 
diminished  ?  then  let  it  be  recollected,  that  this  diminution 
was  made  with  consent  of  the  council  and  estates  of  the 
kingdom.  Their  power  had  become  noxious,  and  to  protect 
it  was  to  oppress  the  church.  The  bishops  had  not  been 
driven  away  by  the  king,  but  by  their  own  unquiet  tempers, 
nor  could  this  be  attributed  to  the  new  teaching,  since  long 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  26? 

before  its  appearance,  lords  and  princes  had  contended  with 
bishops.  Churches  and  monasteries  he  had  put  under 
contribution,  but  it  was  done  with  consent  of  the  diet* 
Monasteries  he  had  not  laid  in  ruins ;  but  their  occupants, 
discontented  with  the  curtailment  of  their  privileges  and 
selfishness,  which  took  effect  at  Westeras,  had  themselves 
run  away.  Only  some  monks,  plotters  of  rebellion  in 
Upland,  had  the  king  expelled.  So  much  holiness  was  not 
attached  to  monastic  life  as  some  supposed.  Their  jewels 
and  chattels,  rather  than  they  should  squander  them,  he 
had  taken  to  pay  the  debts  of  the  kingdom  and  to  support 
students.  The  performance  of  masses  in  Sweden  he  had 
neither  advised  nor  prohibited.  Whether  any  had  blas 
phemed  the  saints,  he  could  not  say.  If,  in  the  writings 
put  to  press,  there  was  anything  contrary  to  God's  word,  it 
was  not  by  his  will  and  order.  If  the  king  ate  meat  on  a 
fast  day,  it  was  to  the  injury  of  no  one ;  it  was  allowed  in 
many  other  countries,  and  in  Home  meat  was  sold  during  the 
whole  of  Lent*  The  marriage  of  monks  and  priests  it  was 
not  in  his  power  to  prohibit,  because  they  said  they  had  the 
word  of  God  in  their  favor.  They  must  answer  for  them 
selves. 

The  knight  Thure  Jonsson,  and  Magnus,  bishop  elect  of 
Skara,  with  whom  bishop  Brask,  as  long  as  he  remained  at 
Linkoping,  carried  on  an  intimate  correspondence  by  letters, 
had  been  the  heads  of  the  rebellion  in  West  Gothland,  and 
by  its  unsuccessful  issue,  were  obliged  to  fly  to  the  borders 
of  Denmark.  From  Halmstad  the  bishop  issued  a  protest 
against  the  treaty  of  Westeras.  The  approbation  of  the 
bishops  to  this  treaty  was  declared  by  him  to  be  merely  an 
acknowledgment  that  the  king  and  temporal  estates  so  decree  ; 
but  suppose  the  approbation  real,  it  was  extorted,  and  there 
fore  without  validity  ;  hence,  he  now  appealed  to  the  judg 
ment  of  the  pope  and  church  of  Rome,  the  Csesar,  and  all 
Christian  princes  in  the  approaching  general  council.  From 


268  M13TOKY    OF    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

Halmstad  both  these  men  wrote,  that  they  could  not 
return  home  under  the  king's  letter  of  safe  conduct  offered 
them,  because  in  that  letter  mention  was  made  of  the  treaty 
of  "Westeras,  which  they  could  not  approve,  the  rather  as 
they  had  heard  that  the  princes  and  lords  of  Germany  were 
assembled  at  Spire,  to  condemn  and  punish  Lutheranism  and 
its  allies.  Both,  together  with  archbishop  Gustav  Trolle, 
soon  after  took  part  in  Christian  II. 's  war,  marched  into 
Norway,  and,  by  letters,  endeavored  to  raise  new  disturb 
ances  in  their  fatherland,  although  now  to  no  purpose. 
Thure  Jonsson  was  assassinated  in  Kongelf,  the  two  bishops 
were  carried  captive  into  Denmark.  They  betook  them 
selves  to  Mecklenberg.  Magnus,  who  more  than  once  wrote 
a  letter  of  admonition  to  the  Swedes,  and,  in  1543,  of  ex 
hortation  to  them  to  dethrone  the  heretical  king,  passed  his 
last  years  in  a  cloister  near  Rostock,  and  about  the  year 
1560  there  died. 

Bishop  Magnus  and  Thure  Jonsson  appear,  from  the  above 
mentioned  answer,  to  have  hoped  that  the  decree  of  the 
German  diet  of  Spire  would  effect  a  revolution  which  might 
operate  on  the  Swedish  church.  This  diet,  so  remarkable 
in  the  history  of  the  German  Reformation,  was  opened  in 
March,  1529.  The  Swedish  diet  of  Westera?,  in  1527,  was 
preceded  by  the  German  at  Spire,  in  1526,  where  religious 
freedom  was  accorded  the  evangelical  party,  and  by  a  recon 
ciliation  between  the  emperor  and  pope.  But  this  recon 
ciliation  was  employed  to  suppress  religious  freedom  in  Ger 
many,  and  in  1529,  it  gave  rise  to  an  attempt  in  Sweden  to 
put  a  stop  to  the  progress  of  the  Reformation.  On  the 
15th  of  March,  it  was  declared,  on  behalf  of  the  emperor 
Charles  V.,  before  the  estates  again  met  at  Spire,  that,  as 
the  religious  freedom,  granted  three  years  before,  had  pro 
duced  many  disorders,  it  was  now  withdrawn,  by  the  power 
and  authority  of  the  Caesar.  Thus,  on  the  same  day  when 
rebellious  hands  sought  to  pluck  the  crown  from  the  head 


REFORMATION    EN    SWEDEN.  269 

of  king  Gustavus,  because  he  was  said  to  favor  the  pretended 
heresy,  the  estates  of  Germany,  in  contradiction  of  the 
former  decree,  resolved  that  the  further  spread  of  evangelical 
doctrine  shonld  not  be  allowed.  This  occurred  on  6th  and 
7th  of  April.  On  the  19th  of  that  month,  king  Ferdinand, 
as  representing  the  Caesar,  confirmed  the  decree.  On  the 
same  day,  the  evangelical  part  of  the  estates  promulgated 
that  protest  against  the  decree  which  has  become  world 
renowned,  and  given  name  to  the  confessors  of  the  truth. 

The  disturbances  in  Dalecarlia,  which  were  occasioned  by 
the  proclamation  of  a  tax  on  bells,  and  had  little  connec 
tion  with  disputes  of  faith,  were  provoked  by  the  menaced 
plundering  of  churches,  and  at  once  were  arrested  by  the 
simultaneous  attempt  of  Christian  to  recover  his  lost  king 
dom.  At  the  council  of  Upsala,  in  1530,  it  was  resolved 
that,  for  the  payment  of  the  foreign  debt,  the  second  largest 
bell  of  every  church,  chapel,  and  cloister,  in  towns,  should 
be  taken.  This  tax  which  was  laid  without  opposition, 
was  extended,  the  year  after,  to  the  country  churches,  but 
with  a  right  to  parishes,  by  payment  of  copper,  or  by 
money,  to  release  their  bells.  If  there  was  but  one  bell,  it 
was  to  remain,  but  to  be  released  at  half  its  valuation.  A 
ransom  was  to  be  paid,  not  only  for  the  bells,  but  for  some 
of  the  products  of  the  glebe,  except  what  was  needed  for 
wine  and  wax ;  and  what  was  not  indispensable  of  the  con 
tents  of  the  chests  of  the  church,  was  to  be  delivered  up. 
The  discontent  among  the  Dalesmen,  to  which  the  impru 
dence  or  ill  will  of  Petri  of  Westeras,  appears  to  'have  con 
tributed,  exploded  in  an  attack  upon  the  collectors  of  the 
taxes.  The  disturbance  was  fomented  by  some  priests, 
among  whom  was  Her  Ewert,  of  the  copper  district,  who, 
as  pastor  of  Leksand,  took  part  in  the  council  of  Orebro. 
There  came  out  also,  the  usual  accompaniments  of  a  storm, 
insurrectionary  letters  from  Gustav  Trolle  and  others,  in  the 
camp  of  Christian  II.  These  persons  wrote  to  the  nobles 


270  HISTORY    OF    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

of  West  Gothland,  that  the  holy  father  of  Home  declared 
that  no  faith  was  to  be  kept  with  Gustavus  Eriksson,  who 
had  usurped  the  throne  of  Christian.  To  the  Dalesmen, 
they  wrote,  that  homage  to  Christian  would  be  attended  by 
many  advantages,  and,  what  was  of  the  utmost  consequence, 
by  the  friendship  and  favor  of  the  holy  father,  the  pope  of 
Rome,  and  by  communion  with  the  holy  Catholic  church, 
from  which  Swedes,  by  reason  of  the  Lutheran  teaching, 
were  at  that  time  excluded. 

The  Dalesmen  complained,  in  regard  to  questions  of 
faith,  merely  'in  general  terms,  of  the  change  of  good 
Christian  customs,  but  in  particular  of  the  use  of  the 
mass  in  Swedish,  which  they  would  neither  bear  nor 
permit.  This  charge  against  the  mass  in  Swedish,  touched 
the  city  of  Stockholm,  where,  at  least  from  the  year 
1529,  the  mass  had  been  performed  in  the  mother-tongue  ; 
and  an  answer  was  given  by  that  city,  which  had  been 
chosen  by  the  king  to  mediate  with  the  Dalesmen.  The 
king,  it  is  said,  in  the  letter  of  the  city  totthese  Dalecarlians, 
had  put  constraint  on  no  one,  but  allowed  learned  men  to 
discuss  the  case.  Not  men-,  but  the  pure  word  of  God,  had 
induced  the  city  to  introduce  the  mass  in  Swedish.  It 
was  more  to  edification  that  men  should  hear  any  good 
thing  in  their  own  mother-tongue,  which  it  was  shameful 
in  us  to  despise,  more  than  the  people  of  Germany,  Liffland, 
Denmark,  and  other  countries,  despised  theirs.  As  the 
Dalesmen  were  probably  but  ill  informed  of  the  true  state 
of  the  case  in  Stockholm,  they  were  invited  to  send  thither 
some  envoys,  one  or  two  from  each  parish,  the  expenses 
of  whose  journey,  both  going  and  coming,  would  be 
defrayed  by  the  city,  to  satisfy  themselves  that  the  usages 
adopted  in  that  city  were  not  so  wicked  and  unchristian  as 
was  represented.  At  the  same  time  the  mass  in  Swedish 
was  printed,  and  this  itself  was  answer  to  the  accusa 
tions. 


DEFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  271 

The  issue  of  this  disturbance  was,  as  regarded  church 
reform,  that  it  corrected  the  elasticity  of  the  Dalesmen,  as 
also  that  of  Christian  II.,  who  now  came  forward  as  the 
champion  of  the  Roman  church,  and  who  henceforth  ceased 
to  hinder  the  development  of  the  new  life  of  church  and 
state. 


272  HISTORY    OF   T11K    F.CCLE3IAS1LCAI. 


CHAPTER    V. 

PROVISION  FOR  HAVING  THE   GOSPEL.  PREACHED— CHURCH-MANUAL 
AND  MASS-BOOK  IN  THE  SWEDISH  LANGUAGE 

THE  most  impartant  result  of  the  decree  passed  at  Orebro,, 
was  the  advancement  of  the  knowledge  and  preaching  of 
God's  word.  In  order  to  give  it  energy,  the  king  sent  onc 
er  two  learned  and  approved  men  to  each  diocese,  to  preach 
in  the  cathedrals,  or  to  establish  cathedral  schools.  They 
jft-ere  commended  to  the  care  and  attention  of  the  bishops 
and  canons.  It  is  said,  that  at  this  time  men  were  invited 
for  this  purpose  from  the  schools  of  Germany,  as  were  the 
brothers  Henick  and  Marianus,  who  had  Strangness  as 
signed  them  as  the  scene  of  their  operations.  To  Skara,. 
was  sent  a  certain  Mans  Mansson,  who,  some  time  before, 
read  lectures  in  Stockholm  upon  the  gospels.  But  he  was 
not  welcome  in  Skara,  where  he  seems  to  have  arrived  soon 
after  the  council  of  Orebro,  and,  therefore,  just  at  the  time 
of  the  insurrectionary  ferment  in  West  Gothland.  When 
he  entered  the  school,  the  pupils  encountered  him  with 
stones  and  missiles,  so  that  he  was  obliged  to  save  himself 
by  flight,  and  when  he  saw  that  he  was  -not  safe  in  Skara 
nor  in  West  Gothland,  he  betook  himself  to  Wadsten.  The 
behavior  of  the  scholars  was  an  indication  of  the  feelings 
with  which  the  bishop  returned  from  Orebro. 

The  ancient  Christian  church,  did  not  read  in  her  divine 
service  the  word  of  God  without  the  accompaniment  of  an 
exposition,  as  appears  from  the  homilies  yet  extant  from 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  273 

the  hands  of  many  of  the  fathers  of  the  church.  But,  after 
preaching  became  through  the  sacrificial  worship  of  the  mid 
dle  ages  only  an  occasional  part  of  divine  service,  it  was  also 
in  the  Swedish  church  much  neglected.  It  was  natural  that 
the  Reformation,  which  again  called  the  word  of  God  into 
the  light  of  day,  should  endeavor  to  elevate  this  word  and 
the  explanation  of  it  to  its  proper  place  in  divine  service. 
The  duty  required  of  every  parish  priest,  either  by  himself 
or  an  assistant,  to  preach  the  pure  word  of  God,  went  not 
immediately  into  full  operation,  partly  because  of  the 
disinclination  of  one  or  another  of  the  bishops  to  enter 
heartily  into  the  measure,  partly  from  the  influence  of  habit, 
but  chiefly  from  the  impossibility  of  procuring  a  sufficient 
number  of  competent  preachers  on  whom  reliance  could  be 
placed. 

The  indefatigable  Olaus  Petri,  in  performance  of  his  prom 
ise  given  a  year  before,  endeavored  to  relieve  the  difficulty, 
by  complete  postils  for  the  direction  and  assistance  of 
preachers.  "It  has  been  a  great  oversight,"  he  says  in 
his  preface,  "  that  we  have  not  practised  our  clergy  in  God's 
word,  before  sending  them  out  as  priests  of  churches.  Nor 
has  the  word  of  God  been  used  in  schools  as  it  should  have 
been,  and  as  some  provincial  councils  in  this  kingdom  in 
former  times  commanded,  but,  which  may  God  amend,  has  ' 
been  neglected.  It  has  thus  come  to  pass,  that,  as  soon  as 
any  one  has  knowledge  enough  to  read  or  sing  a  mass,  he 
is  immediately  good  enough  to  become  priest  of  a  church, 
though  he  knows  nothing  of  the  word  of  God,  on  which 
his  office  chiefly  depends.  God  grant  we  may  yet  find  a 
cure  for  this. 

In  addition  to  exhorting  priests  diligently  to  read  God's 
word,  Olaus  also  proposes  a  method  to  render  the  people 
acquainted  with  the  contents  of  the  New  Testament  trans 
lated  into  Swedish.  It  was  a  long  time  since  it  could  be 
presupposed  of  every  member  of  the  church,  that  he  had 

12* 


274  HISTORY    OF   THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

the  ability  to  read  for  himself  the  holy  books,  and  also  be 
added,  that  they  were  to  be  found  in  his  own  possession. 
But  Olof,  on  the  contrary,  advises  that  "the  parish  priests, 
"  who  have  the  New  Testament  in  Swedish,"  read  a  portion 
every  holiday  in  divine  service,  so  that  the  people  might 
hear  the  whole  gospel  from  one  end  to  the  other. 

At  the  end  of  the  postils,  are  added  directions  how  the 
priests  ought  to  end  their  preaching  with  prayer  and  ad 
monition,  and  a  catechism  freely  translated  from  the  larger 
catechism  of  Luther. 

The  decision  of  the  prelates  and  heads  of  the  church 
respecting  the  publication  of  the  postils,  was  one  of  those 
measures  concerted  at  Orebro,  which  are  not  mentioned  in 
the  acts  of  the  council  as  subscribed.  An  important  work 
of  a  similar  kind,  with  which  Olof  was  ready,  soon  after 
the  council,  or  in  April,  1529,  was  a  church-manual  in  the 
Swedish  language.  It  was  not  now  first  composed.  The 
holy  exercises  prescribed  in  this  manual,  were  already  in  use 
at  Stockholm.  It  was  published  as  a  pattern,  which  might 
be  followed  and  used,  if  found  serviceable  and  convenient. 
It  was  a  subject  of  deliberation  at  Orebro,  that  there  ought 
to  be  a  ritual  of  baptism  in  the  Swedish  language,  and  that 
there  should  be  published  an  instruction  for  the  sick,  to  pre 
pare  them  for  death.  Olof,  therefore,  took  occasion  to  add 
some  other  parts,  and  he  was  in  hope  that  his  work  would 
be  found  more  in  agreement  with  the  Holy  Scripture  than 
the  Latin  manual.  It  was  absurd  that  the  language  under 
stood  by  the  people,  should  not  be  used  in  the  holy  actions 
of  the  church. 

In  this  manual  the  most  common  practices  of  the  church 
were  contained,  especially  with  respect  to  baptism,  but  ex 
orcism  by  salt  put  into  the  mouth  of  the  child  was  rejected, 
"  because  salt  is  one  of  the  pure  creatures  of  God." 

Two  years  later  than  the  manual,  when  dissatisfaction  was 
expressed,  during  the  insurrection  of  the  Dalesmen,  at  the 


REFORM ATION    IN    SWEDEN.  275 

introduction  of  the  mass  in  Swedish,  master  Olof  published 
a  little  work,  upon  the  reasons  why  the  mass  ought  to  be  in 
the  mother  tongue  understood  by  the  people.  At  the  same 
time  appeared  the  Swedish  mass  as  it  is  now  holden  in 
Stockholm,  with  the  reasons  why  it  is  now  so  held. 

This  order  of  the  mass,  in  1531,  is  the  most  important 
change  which  took  place  in  the  church.  Not  only  were 
laid  aside  many  practices  and  usages,  genuflections,  crossings, 
frankincense,  ringing  at  the  elevation  of  the  bread  and 
chalice,  but  there  was  carefully  rejected  whatever  presented 
the  Lord's  Supper  as  a  sacrifice,  or  accorded  with  the 
doctrine  of  the  Roman  church,  that  the  mass  of  the  Lord's 
Supper  was  made  by  the  priest  the  unbloody  sacrifice  of 
Christ  for  the  sins  of  the  world.  It  was  prescribed,  that 
there  should  be  a  distribution  of  the  eucharist  among  the 
people  at  every  mass,  and  that  this  distribution  should  be  of 
both  bread  and  wine,  whereby  the  popish  solitary  masses, 
and  the  withholding  the  cup  from  the  laity,  were  alike  con 
demned. 

It  is  singular  that  no  direction  for  preaching,  or  any  pre 
scribed  place  for  it,  is  to  be  found  in  the  first  four  editions 
of  the  mass-book.  As  it  was  ordered  by  the  council  of 
Orebro,  that  the  word  of  God  should  be  preached  in  all 
churches  of  the  kingdom,  and  that  in  city  churches  preach 
ing  should  take  place  before  mid-day,  it  is  surprising  that 
its  place  in  divine  service  was  not  fixed ;  unless  it  be  borne 
in  mind,  that  the  mass-book  of  the  year  1529,  was  pre 
scribed  for  divine  service  as  then  held  at  Stockholm,  and 
that  in  towns  preaching  was  a  part  of  the  morning  and 
afternoon  services,  when,  on  the  other  hand,  it  was  not 
called  for  at  high  mass. 

But  after  this  order  of  the  mass  by  degrees  became  current 
in  the  whole  kingdom,  the  whole  order  of  divine  service  and 
the  place  for  preaching  were  appointed,  so  as  to  be  included 
in  the  service  of  the  mass-book.  This  took  place  in  1548. 


276  HISTORY    OF   THE   ECCLESIASTICAL 

Previously,  there  were  occasional  permissions  for  the  use  of 
the  Latin  tongue,  at  first  in  private  confessions  to  the  priest, 
afterward  only  in  some  of  the  psalms.  The  edition  of 
1529  makes  no  mention  of  the  allowance  of  Latin  in  divine 
service. 

As  early  as  1529,  the  mass  in  Swedish  was  held  in  Stock 
holm,  and  some  other  towns.  Its  introduction  was  not  a 
general  ordinance,  but  took  place  gradually,  where  it  could 
be  effected  by  the  priests,  without  creating  scandal  among 
the  people.  As  late  as  the  year  1539,  when  Mans  Johansson, 
who  had  the  castle  and  fief  of  Calmar,  on  occasion  of  the 
king's  exhortation  to  the  nobles  of  East  Gothland  to  pro 
mote  and  protect  evangelical  doctrine,  commanded  the 
Swedish  mass  to  be  introduced  into  divine  service  within  his 
fief,  he  is  reminded  by  the  king,  that  no  improvement  would 
follow  the  use  of  the  Swedish  mass,  if  the  people  were  not 
first  instructed,  and  that  it  was>  therefore,  of  the  utmost 
consequence  to  procure  good  and  Christian  preachers  and 
teachers. 

Of  the  success  of  a  work  so  important  to  the  Reformation, 
by  acquainting  the  people  with  the  gospel  and  its  meaning, 
by  introducing  true  evangelical  freedom  through  a  true  faith 
in  the  Son,  who  makes  us  truly  free,  we  cannot  expect  to 
procure  information  from  times  yet  unable  to  prepare  work 
men  to  cultivate  the  field  of  the  church.  The  preaching 
of  God's  word,  the  purifying  of  divine  service  from  super 
stitious  and  strange  practices,  and  from  a  language  not  un 
derstood,  together  with  the  reclaiming  of  the  ecclesiastical 
constitution  from  being  a  hinderance,  to  being  a  means  of 
furthering  the  kingdom  of  God,  were  important  steps,  and 
the  commencement  of  a  holy  progress  to  a  holy  end. 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  277 


CHAPTER    VI. 

ELECTION  OF  A  BISHOP— LAURENTIUS  PETEI,  ARCHBISHOP  OF  UPSALA 
—FATE  OF  THE  CHURCH  TILL  1539. 

THAT  influence  in  the  management  of  the  church  which 
the  diet  of  Westeras  gave  the  king,  and  which  was  sufficiently 
indefinite,  was  used  at  this  time  by  him,  partly  to  keep  under 
his  eye  the  bishops  who  were  not  to  be  depended  upon  or 
were  inactive,  partly,  instead  of  the  chapter,  to  direct  the 
affairs  of  any  vacant  see,  and  to  watch  the  election  to  be 
made  by  the  chapter.  As  the  king,  in  1527,  had  placed 
the  official  acts  of  bishop  Brask  under  inspection,  so  he  ap 
pointed  the  dean  of  Westeras,  Nils  Andreas,  as  assistant  of  its 
bishop,  Petrus  Magni.  The  reason  assigned  was,  that  the 
bishop,  through  age  and  infirmity,  was  not  able  to  deal  with 
unruly  people,  and,  therefore,  had  not  in  his  diocese  the  due 
obedience,  so  that  the  king  had  it  in  contemplation  to  employ 
him  in  another  see  which  was  in  want  of  a  bishop,  there  to 
visit  and  ordain.  Neither  the  bishop  nor  Nils  Andreas  ven 
tured  on  any  undertaking  without  the  knowledge  and  con 
sent  of  the  king's  officer.  The  year  following,  the  bishop 
Avas  restored  to  the  full  exercise  of  his  office,  but,  in  1530, 
when  king  Gustavus  became  dissatisfied  with  a  letter  of  the 
bishop  to  his  diocese,  on  occasion  of  the  edict  for  taxing  bells, 
Herr  Nils  was  again  placed  at  his  side. 

The  see  of  Upsala  was  intrusted  to  the  dean  of  the  chapter, 
John  Laurentius,  to  be  aided  and  assisted  by  the  cantor, 
Erik  Geting.  After  the  flight  of  Brask,  the  care  of  the 


278  HISTORY    OF    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

see  of  Linkoping  was  committed  to  the  succentor,  Jons. 
After  bishop  Magnus  of  Skara,  in  1529,  abandoned  his  see, 
it  was  placed  under  the  care  of  its  provost,  master  Sven, 
and  any  good  man  of  the  chapter  was  also  to  see  to  its  wel 
fare. 

But,  in  1529,  doctor  Jons  or  John  Magni,  provost  of 
Linkoping,  was  elected  by  the  chapter  as  its  bishop,  and 
their  election  was  confirmed  by  the  king,  as  in  Skara  was 
the  case  with  the  abovenamed  master  Sven,  whose  election 
was  still  further  fortified  by  the  recognition  of  the  council, 
which,  in  1530,  sat  at  Upsala.  By  these  elections  the 
church  of  Sweden  again  broke  with  the  Roman,  whose 
bishops,  Brask  and  Magnus  Haraldi,  had  not  resigned  their 
claim.  In  1530,  Jons  Bethius,  canon  of  Wexio,  was  elected 
its  bishop,  as  successor  of  Ingemar,  who  died  some  months 
before,  having  exercised  his  office  for  thirty-five  years.  But 
of  the  consecration  of  these  bishops,  as  of  filling  the  archie- 
piscopal  chair,  there  was  now  no  question.  The  delay  appears 
to  have  been  occasioned  by  the  determination  of  the  king  to 
await  the  result  of  the  celebrated  and,  for  protestantism,  im 
portant  German  diet  of  Augsburg.  It  may  also  have  had 
foundation  in  the  increasing  indifference  to  the  episcopal 
constitution  of  the  church.  Laurentius  Andreas,  on  the 
contrary,  showed  himself  to  be  not  well  content  with  this 
procrastination,  mid  herein  were  betrayed  the  first  symptoms  of 
the  misunderstanding  between  the  king  and  his  chief  adviser  in 
•matters  of  church  reform.  The  dissatisfaction  with  the 
long-continued  vacancy  of  the  archbishopric  spread  still 
further.  It  was  now  ten  years  since  it  had  been  held  by  a 
consecrated  bishop.  In  1531,  the  Helsingers,  who  Avere 
then  in  a  high  state  of  ferment,  demanded,  among  other 
things,  that  an  archbishop  should  be  called  to  the  cathedral 
of  Upsala,  by  which  they  doubtless  intended  a  new  election, 
not  a  return  of  Gustav  Trolle  or  John  Magnus.  The  king 
replied,  that  he  agreed  with  them,  but  that  in  view  of  the 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  279 

injuries  the  kingdom  had  suffered  from  the  bishops  of  Upsala, 
it  was  to  be  carefully  weighed,  on  whom  the  honor  should 
be  conferred.  He  would  very  soon  confer  on  the  subject 
with  the  council  of  the  kingdom.  The  king  had  previously 
given  the  case  his  serious  thoughts. 

During  the  previous  year,  1530,  the  suffrages  of  the 
council  of  the  kingdom  and  of  the  chapter,  had,  at  an  elec 
tion  held  at  Upsala,  fallen  upon  the  bishop  of  Abo,  John 
Skytte,  whom  the  king  urged  to  accept  the  archbishopric. 
He,  however,  declined  it.  In  the  same  year,  the  chapter  of 
Upsala  desired  to  have  bishop  Sven  of  Skara  for  its  arch 
bishop,  but  he  also  declined  it,  unless,  probably,  as  a  tem 
porary  trust.  In  the  beginning  of  the  summer  of  1531,  the 
king  called  together  at  Stockholm  the  bishops  and  chief 
clergy  of  the  kingdom  to  make  an  election,  the  chapter  of 
Upsala  having  neglected,  it  appears,  to  exercise  its  right. 
The  election  took  place  on  midsummer  day,  in  the  great 
church  of  Stockholm.  Of  the  four  persons  proposed,  bishop 
Magnus  of  Striingness  had  four  votes,  Laurentius  Andrea? 
fourteen,  Jons,  dean  of  the  chapter  of  Upsala,  three  votes. 
The  remaining  votes,  in  number  about  one  hundred  and  fifty 
fell  upon  Laurentius  Fetri,  who  immediately  received  con 
firmation  from  the  king  to  the  office. 

If  the  number  of  voters  was  as  large  as  represented,  prot- 
estantism  had,  among  the  clergy,  a  decided  preponderance ; 
since  of  so  many  votes  only  seven  were  withheld  from  the 
foremost  originators  and  managers  of  the  Reformation,  Lau 
rentius  Andreas,  and  the  brother  of  Olaus  Petri. 

Protestants  against  the  Roman  church  discipline,  must  all 
those  have  been,  who  took  part  in  an  election  opposed  to 
the  practice  of  the  church.  It  is  said  to  have  been  the  first 
in  that  generation  effected  by  any  others  than  members  of 
the  chapter. 

Chance,  or  rather  a  certain  providence,  prevented  Lau 
rentius  Andreas  or  Olaus  Petri  from  being  placed  in  this  the 


280  HISTORY    OF    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

most  elevated  position  in  the  church.  The  men  who  hither 
to  had  been  the  heads  of  their  party,  were  not  suited  to 
that  conciliatory  course,  which  alone  could  in  a  peaceful 
way  effect  the  objects  of  the  Reformation. 

Laurentius  Petri,  thirty-two  years  old  at  the  time  of  his 

I  election,  is  scarcely  named  in  history,  previous  to  his  ap 
pearance  on  the  scene  of  action,  as  by  the  wishes  of  the 
clergy  and  nomination  of  the  king  archbishop  of  the  Swedish 

1  church,  a  dignity,  whose  lustre  and  importance  could  not  be 
forgotten  by  those  who  a  few  years  before  saw  it  occupied 
by  Jacob  Ulfsson,  Gustav  Trolle,  and,  though  not  with  full 
power,  by  John  Magnus.  These  and  their  predecessors  had 
rivalled  in  might  the  princes  of  the  kingdom,  and  had  not 
come  short  of  them  in  pomp  and  princely  retinue.  The 
state  of  things  had  indeed  been  somewhat  altered  within  the 
last  five  years,  but  this  short  period  could  not  have  oblit 
erated  the  memory  of  what  an  archbishop  of  Upsala  had 
been,  and  did  not  suffice  to  acquaint  the  occupant  of  the 
office  with  the  place  which,  in  the  new  discipline  of  the 
church,  he  was  to  hold.  Much,  if  not  everything,  must 
depend  upon  the  person  who  now  took  the  crosier,  which 
had  been  torn  from  one  or  two  men  yet  living,  and  which 
could  not  be  fully  received  from  the  other,  a  papal  legate 
though  without  occupation. 

Of  the  previous  life  of  Laurentius,  we  know  nothing  with 
certainty.  That  he,  as  well  as  his  elder  brother,  received 
the  first  rudiments  of  his  education  in  the  Carmelite  mon 
astery,  at  Orebro,  is  probable.  That  he  accompanied  his 
brother  to  Wittenberg,  no  ancient  records  testify.  It  is 
probable  that  he  studied  at  Striingness,  till  he  became  a 
teacher  at  Upsala,  in  which  occupation  he  was  engaged, 
when,  without  being,  it  seems,  a  canon  of  the  cathedral,  he 
was  called  to  be  metropolitan  of  the  Swedish  church. 

The  friends  of  the  papal  hierarchy  spoke  of  his  elevation 
as  an  injurious  disgrace  to  the  church.  Not  merely  his  de- 


REFOR3IATION    IN    SWEDEN.  281 

cided  inclination  to  church  reform — not  merely  his  intrusion 
into  the  chair  legitimately  claimed  by  another — but  his 
youth  and  inexperience,  provoked  their  malevolent  remarks. 

During  the  forty  years  he  exercised  his  functions,  Lau- 
rentius  Petri  justified  the  confidence  which  called  him  to  be 
the  foremost  guardian  of  the  affairs  of  the  Swedish  church,  ; 
now  moulding  Itself  anew.  His  learning  and  piety ;  his4~— *-~ 
behavior,  alike  meek  and  serious ;  his  willingness  to  yield 
where  conscience  permitted  him  ;  his  firm  adhesion  to  what 
he  knew  was  right^  the  independence  with  which  he  labored 
for  the  church's  weal,  unmoved  by  the  clamor  of  the  zealots 
for  the  new,  or  the  obstinacy  of  the  advocates  for  the  old 
order  of  things,  won  a  reverence  for  his  name  during  his 
lifetime,  which  the  scrutiny  of  after-ages  into  his  acts,  has 
not  been  able  to  diminish.  No  man  could  be  tried  in  a 
severer  school,  or  in  a  position  of  more  difficulty  and  em 
barrassments,  than  that  in  which  Laurentius  Petri  was  now 
placed,  pressed,  on  the  one  hand,  within  the  church's  sphere 
by  the  encroaching  claims  of  a  powerful  prince,  and,  on  the 
other  hand,  by  the  opposite  parties  in  religion,  one  of  whom 
refused  to  acknowledge  him  as  legitimate  occupant  of  his 
office,  Avhile  the  other  was  dissatisfied  with  the  caution  he 
showed  in  exercising  his  influence  in  reforming  the  church. 

Of  the  bishops  who,  being  present  at  the  diet  of  Weste 
rns,  declared  their  approbation  of  the  measures  there  adopt 
ed,  Magnus  Sommar,  of  Striingness,  and  Petrus  Magni,  of 
Westeras,  alone  were  left.  But  after  the  late  election  of 
bishops,  and  influenced  by  the  flattering  hopes  which  the 
disturbances  respecting  the  bell  tax  had  awakened,  of  restor 
ing  the  old  order  of  things  in  Sweden,  they  circulated  the 
insurrectionary  letters  of  Trolle,  Magnus  of  Skara,  and  their 
coadjutors.  They  were  in  expectation  also  of  the  approach 
of  Christian  II.,  to  recover  with  the  aid  of  the  Caesar,  the 
three  northern  crowns ;  and  they  either  regretted  the  inde 
cision  they  had  hitherto  manifested,  or  were  anxious  to 


282  HISTORY    OF    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

make  provision  for  the  uncertain  future.  King  Gustavus 
had  summoned  the  bishops  elect  of  Linkoping,  Skara,  and 
Wexio,  to  appear  at  Stockholm,  on  August  13,  1531,  for 
the  king's  nuptials,  and  their  own  consecration.  He  had 
also  summoned  the  bishops  of  Striingness  and  Westeras  to 
officiate  at  the  consecration  of  the  others  and  of  the 
archbishop  elect.  Just  before  their  journey  to  Stockholm, 
they  prepared,  on  August  10th,  a  protestation  against  all 
that  was  now  taking  place  in  the  land,  to  the  injury  of  the 
privileges  of  the  Swedish  church,  and  the  advancement 
of  the  soul-destroying  Lutheran  heresy.  They  protested 
against  the  consecration  of  the  intruded  bishops  and  arch 
bishop,  which  they  themselves  were  necessitated  to  perform, 
"  under  the  influence  of  fears  and  apprehensions  which  may 
well  arise  even  in  firm  minds."  They  protested  against  the 
use  of  the  Swedish  mass,  and  against  the  assessment  of  the 
clergy.  They  declared  to  be  invalid  and  of  no  effect  all 
that  they  had  done  or  were  compelled  to  do  against  the  Ro 
man  chair  and  church,  which  they  desired  to  acknowledge 
as  "  their  mother,  and  the  mistress  of  mankind." 

This  protest  was  delivered  to  the  well-known  doctor 
Peter  Galle,  and  the  canon,  Torger  Gudlachi,  "  honor  and 
reverence  to  the  lord  Gustavus,  king  of  the  kingdom  of 
Sweden,  always  inviolate."  It  was  not  drawn  up  to  be 
made  public,  unless  under  a  change  of  circumstances,  which 
should  render  it  necessary  as  a  self-defence.  It  was  another 
evidence  of  the  moral  laxity  in  the  high  places  of  the  church, 
which  we  have  had  more  than  one  occasion  to  notice.  The 
church,  who^e  sponsors  defended  themselves  by  such  means, 
could  not  count  on  stability.  It  is  uncertain  how  far,  or 
when,  this  protest  came  to  the  knowledge  of  king  Gustavus. 
Bishop  Petrus,  of  Westeras,  retained  his  office,  though  un 
der  some  restraints,  till  his  death  in  1534,  and  was  succeed 
ed  the  year  after  by  Henrik  Johannes,  by  birth  a  northman, 
who,  in  1529.  as  lector  and  vicar-general  of  the  Dominican 


REFORMATION    IX    SWEDEN.  283 

s 

order,  signed  the  decree  of  the  council  of  Orebro,  and  soon 
became  one  of  the  most  zealous  reformers. 

Bishop  Magnus  Sommar,  of  Striingness,  a  member  of  the 
diet  of  Westeras,  in  1527,  was  imprisoned  by  the  king,  at 
the  time  of  his  second  nuptials,  in  1536,  on  account,  as  is 
said,  of  the  bishop's  adhesion  to  the  Roman  church.  He 
was  released  eight  months  after,  but  did  not  resume  his 
office,  retiring  to  the  cloister  of  Krokek,  where,  provided 
with  a  sufficient  support  by  the  king,  he  ended  his  days 
about  the  year  1543,  in  undisturbed  enjoyment  of  his  faith. 

He  was  succeeded  in  his  diocese,  in  1536,  by  master 
Bothvid  Suneson,  who  had  been  for  some  time,  canon  of 
Linkoping,  and  who  was  the  active  ally  and  intimate  friend 
of  Olaus  Petri.  All  these  bishops  had  their  appointments  by 
election  of  the  chapter.  In  the  month  of  August,  1531,  the 
bishops  elect  were  consecrated  ;  the  archbishop  on  Septem 
ber  22d,  in  the  church  of  the  Franciscans,  on  the  island 
near  Stockholm,  two  days  before  he  married  the  king  to  his 
first  consort.  Accurate  information  is  wanting  of  the  cere 
monies  used  at  this  consecration,  and  how  those  of  former 
like  occasions  were  observed.  The  king,  however,  is  said 
to  have  delivered  the  crozier  with  his  own  hands,  to  the 
archbishop,  anointing  and  robes  of  office  being  also  used.* 

The  king  assigned  to  the  archbishop  a  sufficient  income 
to  support  the  dignity  of  his  office,  in  some  degree  approach 
ing  what  it  had  formerly  been.  He  even  assigned  him  fifty 
attendants,  probably  that  he  might  appear  with  dignity  in 
Upsala,  although  such  a  train  is  certainly  inconsistent  with 
the  decree  of  the  diet  of  Westeras,  and  with  the  ideas  of  the 
office  entertained  alike  by  the  king  and  the  reformers.  The 
archbishop  soon  discharged  this  life-guard,  and  transferred 
the  expense  of  them  to  the  support  of  fifty  poor  students. 

*  King  John  III.,  declares  that  the  ceremonies  he  wished  used  at  the  con 
secration  of  an  archbishop,  in  1575,  should  be  the  same  as  those  used  by 
bishop  Lars,  of  blessed  memory. 


284  HISTORY    OF   THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

Two  years  later,  there  occurs  a  contract  of  the  king  with 
the  archbishop,  which  shows  the  power  that,  by  virtue  of 
the  ordinantia  of  Westeras,  the  king  left  to  him,  in  the  see 
whose  chief  shepherd  he  was.  The  archbishop  was  to  have 
the  right  of  appointment  to  all  vacant  benefices  within  the 
diocese,  but  every  appointee  to  the  larger  benefices  was  to 
be  first  presented  to  the  king.  The  offences  of  priests,  such 
as  neglect  of  divine  service  or  unwillingness  to  preach  the 
word  of  God,  the  archbishop  was  to  punish.  Full  liberty 
was  left  him  to  appoint  public  confession,  and  the  king  per 
mitted  the  money  paid  for  absolution,  and  of  which  account 
was  to  be  made  to  him,  according  to  the  ordinantia  of 
"Westerns,  to  be  turned  to  the  support  of  schools  and  pooi 
students.  The  oversight  of  the  schools  of  the  diocese  was 
especially  committed  to  him,  as  also  of  teachers  and  the 
course  of  instruction,  in  order  that  fit  persons  for  the  service 
of  church  and  state  might  be  trained.  The  incomes  which 
teachers  hitherto  had  were  confirmed,  and  the  archbishop 
was  to  see  that  these  incomes  were  paid,  and  if  possible  in 
creased,  and  that  poor  students  got  what  was  assigned  for 
their  support.  But  the  archbishop  was  to  undertake  no 
reform  without  acquainting  the  king,  "  as  hasty  reformations 
were  sometimes  a  scandal." 

In  1531,  the  Swedish  church  was  a  complete  establish 
ment,  with  maintenance  of  the  old  constitution,  but  inde 
pendent  of  and  sundered  from  the  Roman  church.  It  had 
bishops  who  labored  on  the  principles  of  the  Reformation. 
There  is  nowhere  to  be  found  an  analogy  to  the  state  of 
things,  or  the  relations  here  existing.  England  had  not 
yet  broken  with  Rome.  Calvinism  had  not  presented  its 
constitution,  which,  under  an  alleged  historic  testimony,  in 
reality  wants  that  testimony.  In  Denmark  and  Norway 
the  hierarchy  still  contended  for  Rome,  and  in  Germany 
neither  had  the  old  order  been  abolished  nor  the  new  been 
established,  while  the  principle  adopted  at  Spire,  in  1526, 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  285 

that  all  electors,  princes,  and  estates  of  the  empire,  might, 
with  their  subjects,  so  live  and  rule  as  each  would  answer 
before  God  and  the  emperor,  left  all  in  the  hands  of  the 
administration  of  the  land.  The  matter  was  deferred  to  the 
next  general  council  or  to  a  national  assembly,  but  such  a 
meeting,  in  the  full  sense  of  the  term,  never  was  brought 
together. 

In  Sweden  the  case  was,  till  now,  undetermined  and  va 
cillating.  The  church  had  not  settled  its  doctrine  of  faith. 
The  confession  of  faith,  published  by  the  German  protestants 
at  the  diet  of  Augsburg,  in  1530,  was  not  mentioned.  The 
old  church  law  was  neither  in  all  respects,  nor  in  any  recog 
nized  particulars,  abolished.  Much,  if  not  everything,  de 
pended  upon  the  extent  to  which  the  king  would  carry  the 
power  that  in  1527  was  bestowed  upon  him.  By  virtue  of 
this  decree  of  Westeras,  he  decided  individual  cases  without 
establishing  general  rules.  The  king  was  often  consulted  in 
doubtful  points,  or  his  judgment  was  solicited.  Thus,  in  the 
year  1530,  had  the  peasantry  of  Kudby,  in  the  diocese  of 
Linkoping,  expressed  to  the  king,  by  a  messenger,  their 
doubt  how  far  they  ought  to  tolerate  their  pastor,  who  had 
entered  the  marriage  state.  The  king  advises  them  to  be 
at  peace  with  what  had  happened,  inasmuch  as  it  was  not 
contrary  to  the  word  of  God.  A  woman  obtained,  in  1531, 
the  king's  permission  to  live  separate  from  her  husband.  A 
peasant,  whose  wife  committed  adultery,  gained  the  king's 
license  to  take  another  wife.  The  prie'st  Gunne  of  Satilla, 
in  the  diocese  of  Skara,  begged  to  know  of  the  king,  whether, 
after  losing,  by  accident,  the  thumb  of  one  of  his  hands,  he 
ought  to  execute  his  office.  The  king  replied,  that,  on  con 
sultation  with  men  conversant  in  Scripture,  he  found  there 
was  nothing  in  such  an  occurrence,  according  to  God's  law, 
to  hinder  Gunne  from  exercising  his  functions,  "  however 
the  pope's  law  might  decide  otherwise,  which  we  hold  in 
little  account  when  we  have  God's  word  for  us." 


286  HISTORY    OF    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

In  concert  with  the  bishops  and  Laurentius  Andrece,  the 
king  labored  for  the  settlement  of  church  and  state. 
Olaus  Petri  continued,  though  with  a  less  number  of  wri 
tings,  his  activity  as  an  author.  In  1535,  there  came  out 
two  works  from  his  pen.  The  one  is  a  treatise  on  the 
justification  of  man,  in  which  this  question  is  unfolded  with 
his  wonted  clearness  and  strength,  conformably  to  the  pres 
ent  teaching  of  our  church.  The  other,  of  the  same  year, 
is  an  explanation  of  the  tenth  chapter  of  St.  Matthew,  dc 
signed  as  an  exhortation  to  steadfastness  under  persecution, 
and  that  we  should  not  lose  our  confidence,  because  many 
foes  of  the  gospel  rejected  its  truth.  They  were  not  to  be 
accounted  preachers  of  the  gospel,  who  could  merely  talk  ill 
of  priests  and  monks.  There  was  no  art  in  tearing  down  ; 
;  a  Turk  or  heathen  could  do  that.  The  art  was  to  remove  abuses, 
and  give  freedom  to  truth.  With  the  exception  of  several 
editions  of  his  spiritual  hymn  books,  these  were  the  last 
writings  on  the  subject  of  the  Reformation,  which  came 
from  Olof  during  his  lifetime.  There  only  came  afterward 
from  his  pen,  that  which  contributed  to  lose  him  the  favor 
and  protection  of  king  Gustavus,  his  "  Sermon  against  the 
horrible  oaths  and  blasphemy  of  God,  which  are  now  too 
commonly  practised."  .It  was  printed  in  1539,  and  awaked 
the  royal  displeasure,  by  the  relentless  manner  in  which  it 
denounced  the  bad  habit  that  was  not  the  least  of  the  king's. 
It  merits  also  attention  as  a  picture  of  the  times,  and  was,  in 
Sweden,  the  first  expression  of  regret  that  the  work  of  im 
provement  did  not  bear  moral  fruit  so  soon  nor  of  such  rich 
ness  as  was  hoped  and  expected,  and  that  the  power  within 
the  church  which  was  wrested  from  the  pope,  there  was 
reason  to  fear  might  fall  into  the  hands  of  a  worldly  ruler. 

The  new  archbishop  appears,  in  1538,  for  the  first  time, 
as  an  ecclesiastical  author.  This  was  intended  as  a  blow  to 
the  abuses  in  the  church.  The  use  of  holy  water  had  been 
explained  at  the  council  of  Orebro,  in  1529,  but  had  not 


REFORMATION    IS    SWEDEN  287 

been  forbidden.  Some  years  later,  it  had  been  here  and 
there  altogether  laid  aside.  The  clamor  this  awakened  in 
duced  him  to  publish  his  work  011  holy  water.  His  office, 
he  says,  admonished  him  to  write  on  a  subject  of  which  no 
one  as  yet  had  treated.  After  having  shown  the  blasphemies 
resulting  from  the  abuse  of  holy  water,  he  concludes  with 
an  admonition  not  to  use  it  or  let  it  be  used  with  conse 
cration  or  with  sprinkling.  This  little  work  was  the  first 
ling  of  his  public  announcement  of  his  principles  as  a  re 
former.  His  time,  till  now,  he  had  occupied  in  the  exercise 
of  his  duties  within  his  diocese,  and  in  a  work  which  was  a 
more  conclusive  evidence  of  his  energy,  his  execution  of  a 
translation  of  the  Bible  into  Swedish,  of  which,  probably 
revised  by  him,  the  Psalter  made  its  appearance  in  1536, 
together  with  the  Athanasian  creed  in  Swedish. 

From  this  time  much  attention  was  given  to  edifying  the 
people  and  clergy  in  good  works,  by  the  publication  of  books 
of  devotion.  Two  of  these,  which  came  out  in  1537,  are 
familiar  to  us.  The  one  is  a  lesson  of  instruction  for  plain 
people,  based  upon  the  ten  commandments,  the  creed,  and 
Lord's  prayer.  As  usual  in  books  of  prayer,  it  contains, 
after  an  exhortation  to  prayer,  a  prayer  for  the  grace  of  the 
Holy  Spirit  to  teach  us  to  pray,  separate  prayers  on  each 
of  the  commandments,  the  articles  of  faith,  and  the  Lord's 
prayer,  on  the  sacraments,  and  sufferings  of  Christ,  with 
some  penitential  psalms  and  litanies.  The  other,  which 
must  have  been  at  the  time  a  most  prized  and  familiar  book 
for  edification,  since  before  and  during  the  year  1580  five 
editions  at  least  were  published,  is  entitled  :  "  The  faith  and 
medicine  of  the  soul,  useful  at  all  times,  but  especially  at 
the  approach  of  death."  It  justifies,  by  its  warm  Christian 
tenor,  and  its  simple  and  pure  representations,  the  confidence 
and  popularity  it  obtained  among  all  sorts  of  people. 

The  increased  demand  of  the  times  for  the  extension,  in 
dependent  examination,  and  freedom  of  God's  word,  by 


288  HISTORY    OF    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

those  who  were  engaged  in  the  promulgation  of  truth,  was 
often  a  hinderance  to  the  advancement  of  that  truth.  An 
other  hinderance  was  the  uncertain  position  of  the  church, 
and  the  diminished  respect  for  the  sanctity  of  the  priestly 
office,  which  threatened  a  deficiency  of  clergy  and  teachers. 
People  became  less  disposed  to  offer  their  sons  for  the  service 
of  the  church,  when  they  were  to  give  them  up  to  an  un 
certain  future,  uncertain  both  in  regard  to  an  adequate  sup~ 
port,  and  what  would  be  acceptable  to  God,  in  an  office  to 
be  exercised,  as  it  might  be,  either  in  the  old  or  the  new 
faith.  As  early  as  1533,  the  king  was  obliged  to  issue  a 
letter,  in  which  he  complains  that  the  number  of  pupils  in 
the  schools  was  lessened.  He  advises  the  people  to  send  their 
sons,  that  the  church  might  not  want  men  to  serve  her,  and 
promises  to  take  care  of  their  future.  This  admonition, 
"  to  keep  children  at  school,"  was  afterward  frequently 
renewed,  and  it  was  added,  that,  as  a  consequence  of  the 
people's  inclination  to  curtail  their  tithes,  very  few  fathers 
were  willing  to  allow  their  children  to  be  students.  An 
admonition  to  the  same  effect,  appeared  also  in  1571,  the 
year  in  which  the  discipline  of  the  church  was  settled,  as 
will  be  hereafter  narrated. 

But  the  course  of  instruction  necessary  for  the  proper 
training  of  priests,  or  of  those  destined  to  the  service  of 
church  or  state,  was  either  incomplete,  or  sometimes,  from 
the  lukewarmness  of  the  administrators,  inefficacious.  To 
prepare  teachers  for  their  office,  many  young  men  were  sent 
to  Germany,  and  wrere  placed,  on  their  return  home,  in  the 
church,  in  schools,  or  in  the  king's  chancery.  Laurentius 
Andretc  advised  the  bishops  to  search  out  and  keep  about 
them  suitable  men,  whom  they  could  trust  with  the  charge  of 
the  schools  in  their  dioceses.  He  had  also  to  make  pro 
vision  for  the  support  of  those  who  studied  abroad.  Many 
obtained  prebends  or  other  sources  of  income  from  the  king. 
Many  were  supported  abroad  by  the  bishops.  The  number 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  289 

of  those  who  pursued  and  completed  their  studies  in 
Germany  was  not  small.  At  the  university  of  "Witten 
berg  alone,  from  1527  to  1529,  about  forty  Swedes  were 
matriculated,  and  this  was  not  the  only  university  fre 
quented,  although  the  civil  commotions  in  Sweden  and  the 
quarrel  with  Lubeck,  in  1534  and  1535,  were  obstacles  to 
travellers. 

A  great  preventive  to  a  high  course  of  scholastic  training 
within  the  land,  was  the  want  of  a  university.  The  estab 
lishment  begun  at  Upsala  in  1477,  had  stopped  at  the  death 
of  the  founders.  As  early  as  1538,  king  Gustavus  conceived 
himself  under  an  obligation  to  wipe  out  the  reproach,  which 
he  heard  was  brought  against  him  in  Germany,  for  his 
neglect  to  establish  a  high  school.  But  that  man  must  be 
ignorant  of  the  full  force  of  the  excuse  the  king  offered  for 
himself,  the  ruin  of  the  kingdom,  when  he  took  it  as  "  a 
lamed  and  desolated  kingdom,"  the  enormous  debt  of  that 
kingdom,  the  perpetual  insurrections  and  wars,  and  the 
deficiency  of  men  suitable  for  high  schools ;  that  man  must 
be  ignorant,  that  the  decree  of  1527  did  not  cast  the  riches 
of  the  church  into  the  king's  hand  as  a  booty,  to  be  used  at 
his  pleasure,  that  neither  he  nor  any  other  could  reckon 
upon  how  much  of  those  riches  would  remain  for  free  be 
stowal,  after  the  right  of  hcirship  from  the  individuals  was 
satisfied,  that  moreover  the  abrogation  of  the  existing  estab 
lishments  was  not  decreed,  but  only  a  slowly  maturing  fruit  of 
the  decree  of  Westeras  and  of  the  adjustment  of  principles; 
that  man  must  be  ignorant  of  all  this,  and  of  the  whole 
condition  of  things  within  Sveden,  who  does  not  exonerate 
the  king  from  all  blame  at  this  period.  Whether  for  the 
subsequent  twenty  years  he  is  subject  to  the  charge  of 
negligence,  we  shall,  as  we  proceed,  have  occasion  to 
determine. 

As  yet  the  old  church  was  not  condemned,  further  than 
the  condemnation  occasioned  by  the  free  preaching  of  God's 

13 


290  HISTORY    OF    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

word.  This  preaching  and  promulgation  of  the  word,  re 
quired  certain  changes,  but  these  were  not  made  except 
when  it  could  be  done  without  scandal.  It  was  acknowl 
edged  that  truth  could  make  itself  known  even  under  the  old 
forms,  and  that  demolition  does  not  evince  the  presence  of 
God  in  the  strongest  light.  To  watch  over  the  free  course 
of  the  light  of  the  gospel  that  it  might  penetrate  and  dis 
perse  the  darkness  around,  to  remove  whatever  most  stood 
in  the  way  of  its  activity,  constituted  the  power,  the  com 
mission,  which,  in  1527,  the  king  received  from  his  people. 
He  so  construed  this  commission,  though  by  degrees  he  was 
led  to  consider  and  treat  the  contending  parties,  as  respect 
ively  the  opponents  of  truth  and  of  falsehood.  The  many 
plots  which  endangered  the  peace  of  the  land  and  his  crown, 
could  not  but  conduce  to  embitter  his  mind  against  the 
Roman  church. 

In  Linkoping  a  certain  master  Claude  had  excited  at 
tention  and  disturbance  by  a  Bible-lecture  or  sermon.  The 
king  expressed  his  surprise,  and  commanded  that  they  who 
had  anything  to  say  against  the  word  of  God  or  them 
that  preached  it,  should,  within  a  given  time,  present 
themselves  before  the  archbishop.  Master  Thore,  canon 
of  Linkoping,  in  particular,  was  summoned,  and  afterward 
other  zealots  of  the  old  order.  Two  years  later,  Arvid 
Trolle,  who  held  the  cloister  of  Wadsten  in  investiture, 
was  directed  to  watch  carefully  the  papistic  party  in  Wad 
sten,  because  the  monks  there  "  were  begining  again  to  lie 
and  preach  their  old  hypocrisy.  The  king  complains 
that  the  monks  and  nuns  of  Wadsten,  and  even  the  bishop 
of  Linkoping,  with  some  of  his  old  brothers  of  the  chapter, 
opposed  the  word  of  God,  although  they  promised  to  promote 
the  cause  of  the  gospel. 

From  this  period,  the  year  1539,  a  new  phase  is  presented 
in  the  history  of  the  Swedish  church  reformation.  It 
was  a  breach  in  the  life  of  the  church.  Its  old  order 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  291 

became  now  abhorred  popery;  and  what  was  previously 
considered  promotion  of  the  gospel  seemed  now  to  be 
the  opposite.  -New  men  stood  forward,  and  desired  in  the 
name  of  the  king  to  make  new  views  to  pass  current.  He 
began  to  lay  a  heavier  hand  upon  the  church,  and  during 
the  period  immediately  following,  a  disorganization  began, 
of  which  none  could  say  what  would  be  the  result,  till  in 
time  the  case  assumed  a  more  benignant  aspect. 


292  HISTORY    OF   THE   ECCLESIASTICAL 


CHAPTER    VII. 

THE  KING'S  DISPLEASURE  WITH  LAURENTIUS  ANDREW  AND  OLAUS 
PETRI— ACCUSATION  AND  JUDGMENT  AGAINST  THESE  MEN— THE 
NEW  CONDITION  OF  THE  CHURCH  UNDER  THE  INFLUENCE  OF  PEU 
TINGER  AND  NORMAN— VISITATIONS  OF  THE  CHURCHES— PLUNDER 
ING  OF  CHURCHES— DISSATISFACTION. 

THE  mind  of  the  king  began,  in  1539,  to  be  alienated 
from  and  embittered  against  the  men  who  hitherto  had  been 
his  counsellors  and  leaders  in  the  affairs  of  the  church. 
Laurentius  Andrew  was  a  man  of  too  lordly  a  spirit,  to  be  in 
immediate  contact  with  his  master  as  soon  as  the  king  dis 
covered  a  greater  independence  in  his  views  and  management 
of  the  business  of  the  church.  The  firmness  and  boldness 
which  the  chancellor  displayed  toward  the  old  church,  was 
shown,  sometimes,  perhaps,  too  indiscreetly,  with  respect  to 
the  king,  when  he  wished  to  go  beyond  the  path  which 
master  Lars  had  marked  out  for  the  improvement  of  the 
church  in  the  decrees  of  1527  and  1529,  in  which  we  have 
seen  his  plan  of  church  reform  to  have  been  settled.  Sus 
tained  by  his  confidence  in  the  justice  and  utility  of  this 
change  for  the  better  in  the  church,  he  urged  the  king  for 
ward,  when  the  latter  considerately  or  cautiously  listened 
to  the  progress  of  the  work  in  Germany,  whence  as  well  as 
from  the  Netherlands  the  greatest  dangers  menaced  his 
throne.  But  the  chancellor  wished  also  to  hold  back  the 
king,  when  he  threatened  the  constitution  of  the  Swedish 
church  with  the  same  looseness  of  discipline,  which  preceded 
the  stability  that  protestant  Germany,  from  1529,  subse 
quently  gained. 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  293 

The  tongue  and  pen  of  master  Olof  could,  in  his  youthful  j 
ardor,  sometimes  forget  themselves.     King  Gustavus  fancied, 
that,  in  Olof 's  Swedish  chronicles,  which  it  is  said  came  out| 
in  1530,  he  found  sundry  reproachful  hints  against  himself. 
Olof,  in  his  preaching,  spared  not  the  king.     His  printed 
sermon  against  oaths  and  blasphemy  gave  him  many  sharp 
cuts,  and  occasioned  a  prohibition  to  the  reformers,  as  before , 
wa,s  done-  to   Brask,  to  print  anything  without  the  king'sj 
consent. 

The  king's  dissatisfaction  with  the  reformers,  extended  to 
the  manner  in  which  the  Reformation  was  conducted,  and 
the  disturbances  which  thence  arose.  The  preachers  who,:, 
according  to  the  decree  of  the  council  of  Orebro,  were  sent 
to  the  parishes  to  assist  incompetent  priests,  were  not  always 
mature  enough  to  exercise  their  calling  with  sense  and  mod 
eration,  and  were  not  always  acceptable  to  the  pastors  into 
whose  office  they  intruded.  Reform  preceded  the  instruc 
tion  given  of  its  necessity,  and  the  king  seems  to  have  ex 
pected  from  the  instruction  too  rapid  results.  He  had  hoped 
that  the  new  doctrine  would  be  able  to  exorcise  the  spirit 
of  insurrection,  and  the  disorders  which,  in  former  times, 
fomented  by  the  church  against  the  rulers  of  the  state, 
agitated  the  minds  of  the  people ;  but  he  found  the  reformers 
themselves  not  seldom  dissatisfied  with  his  course,  and  with 
unmerciful  freedom  expressing  their  dissatisfaction.  He  met 
with  resistance  oil  the  part  of  the  new  bishops,  and  was 
reminded,  that,  by  the  great  diminution  of  their  incomes 
and  those  of  the  cathedrals,  by  suppressing  many  canons  and 
prebends,  he  had,  while  commanding  them  to  supply  the 
churches  with  preachers,  made  it  difficult  or  impossible  for 
them  to  obey  the  command.  He  saw  How  easily,  in  1536, 
the  power  of  the  bishops  in  Denmark  was  perfectly  broken. 
His  suspicion,  nourished  by  the  conduct  of  many  church 
men,  caused  him  to  regard  every  movement  of  those  bishops  * 
who  did  not  in  all  things  coincide  with  his  views,  as  a 


291  HISTORY    OF    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

covert  attempt  to  win  back  the  independence  of  the  hierar 
chy.  The  meek  archbishop  himself  received  the  sharp, 
but  certainly  undeserved  reproach,  of  being  willing  to  shear 
the  sheep  and  use  the  wool,  yet  not  take  care  of  the  flock, 
:  while  on  one  occasion  he  was  answered,  "  Preachers  should 
J  ye  be  and  not  masters."  Reform  seemed  to  the  king  cither 
precipitate  and  awkwardly  begun,  or  too  slow  in  its  progress 
and  incomplete.  When  the  archbishop  wrote,  that  in 
Upsala  there  was  preaching,  not  only  on  the  mass  in  Swe 
dish,  marriage,  eating  of  meat,  and  the  like,  but  on  repent 
ance  and  amendment,  the  true  Christian  faith,  brotherly 
love,  and  a  godly  and  righteous  life,  the  king  replied  :  "  Such 
we  do  not  reprove.  But,  because  this  is  done  in  Upsala, 
it  does  not  follow  that  it  is  done  over  the  whole  kingdom. 
Sorrow  is  to  be  felt,  not  for  Upsala  alone,  but  for  the 
diocese  and  the  whole  land."  The  king's  language,  in  the 
same  letter,  was  a  harbinger  of  a  new  order  of  things  soon 
to  be  introduced.  ' '  Wherever  we  hereafter  see  and  learn 
that  God's  word  is  not  in  a  Christian  manner  and  on  better 
grounds  announced  and  promulgated  by  you  and  your  ad 
visers,  than  we  hear  or  have  heard,  we  know  not  what  will 
be  our  will  and  pleasure.  We  must  change  our  mind  as 
God  shall  give  us  grace." 

The  king's  dissatisfaction  was  kept  alive,  if  not  originally 
awakened  by  the  adventurer,  Conrad  Peutinger,  who  came 
to  Sweden  in  August,  1538,  and  who,  in  the  course  of  that 
year,  was  endowed  with  the  incomes  of  the  cantor  of  the 
cathedral  of  Upsala.  For  this  adventurer  the  way  to  the 
king's  favor  was  to  be  cleared  by  the  removal  of  his  former 
adviser.  In  his  projects,  respecting  church  reform,  he  soon 
found  the  aid  of  another  foreigner. 

In  1538,  master  Nicholas  Magni,  then  in  Germany,  was 
commissioned  by  king  Gustavus,  to  look  for  and  send  to 
Sweden  some  learned  man  competent  to  take  charge  of  the 
education  of  the  young  duke  Erik.  His  choice  fell  on  a 


REFORMATION   IN    SWEDEN.  295 

Pomeranian  noble,  George  Norman,  born  in  Rygen,  and  of 
a  family  scattered  over  Denmark.  He  had  studied  at 
Wittenberg.  This  choice  was  approved  by  Luther  and 
Melancthon,  with  whom  Nicholas  consulted,  and,  in  1539, 
Norman  arrived  in  Sweden,  furnished  with  letters  of  recom 
mendation  from  both  those  learned  men  of  Wittenberg  to 
king  Gustavus.  Pie  brought  with  him  their  testimony,  for 
being  a  man  that  feared  God,  was  learned,  and  of  a  modest 
and  good  behavior. 

Norman  took  part  in  the  consultations  regarding  the  pres 
ent  condition  and  future  prospects  of  the  Swedish  church. 
Both  these  strangers  could  only  judge  of  that  church  by  its 
dissonance  from  the  protestant  churches  beyond  Sweden. 
For  Norman,  at  least,  the  electorate  of  Saxony  was  the  / 
natural  exemplar.  The  king  ought  in  Sweden  to  have  the/ 
same  power  over  the  church  of  his  land,  as  the  German" 
estates  possessed  in  theirs.  Among  kings,  also,  Henry  VIHL 
of  England  had  made  himself  head  of  the  church  in  his 
kingdom.  The  bishops  ought  to  be  removed  out  of  the  way, 
or  at  least  be  restrained  and  limited  in  the  exercise  of  their 
office.  In  the  constitution  of  the  church  they  might  be 
dispensed  with.  Neither  Luther  nor  Melancthon  was 
bishop.  The  Reformation  in  Sweden  had  not  advanced, 
because  the  king  had  not  yet  in  his  kingdom  instituted  the 
perquisition,  which,  in  the  electorate  of  Saxony,  in  1528 
and  1529,  had,  in  the  name  of  the  elector,  been  accom 
plished  by  ecclesiastical  and  civil  commissioners,  in  their 
visitation  of  the  churches.  The  usages  and  customs  which 
hitherto  had  remained  in  Sweden  were  stigmatized  as  un 
belief  and  superstition,  which  should  no  longer  be  tolerated. 
The  king  was  now  transformed  into  a  protestant  in  the  strict 
est  sense  of  the  term,  after  the  pattern  of  German  Luther- 
anism. 

Toward  the  close  of  the  year  1539,  an  indictment  was  I 
brought    against   Laurentius  Andrece   and   Olaus   Petri,  a  J 


296  HISTORY    OF    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

proof  of  the  use  or  abuse  of  the  confidence  it  had  been 
Peutinger's  fortune  to  gain  with  the  king.  The  articles  of 
accusation,  which  king  Charles  IX.,  from  regard  to  the 
memory  of  his  father,  cashiered  from  Tegel's  history  of 
Gustavus,  proved  the  influence  the  accused  possessed  with 
the  king,  and  how  burdensome  that  influence  had  now  be 
come.  That  they  sometimes  abused  or  made  too  great  use 
of  the  confidence  reposed  in  them  by  the  king,  is  apparent, 
but  it  is  still  more  apparent  that  they  acted  on  principles 
which  the  king  now  no  longer  recognized,  or  to  which  he 
gave  a  wider  scope  than  the  reformers  thought  justifiable. 
This  is  particularly  evident  from  the  charges  laid  against 
Laurentius  Andrea?  in  regard  to  church  reform.  He  had, 
it  is  said,  under  promise  of  fidelity  and  support,  induced  the 
king  to  undertake  this  reform,  although  the  king  was 
cautious,  regarded  himself  as  not  sufficiently  provided  with 
the  means,  and  feared  the  consequences.  He  had  afterward, 
during  the  insurrections,  not  been  constant  to  the  king,  had 
precipitated  him  into  difficulties,  and  left  him  there,  indif 
ferent  whether  the  king  swam  to  land  or  was  drowned. 
Master  Lars  had  with  remissness  managed  affairs  that  did 
not  benefit  himself,  but  on  the  contrary,  delighted  to  be  alone 
the  shepherd  where  he  could  shear  the  wool.  He  had  all 
the  senators  on  his  side,  and  conducted  himself  insolently 
toward  the  king,  and  thought  himself,  "  with  his  evangelical 
crew,"  as  strong  as  the  king,  and  able  to  protect  himself  if 
the  king  would  not  protect  him,  while  the  king,  having  no 
fit  advisers  about  him,  but  surrounded  by  traitors,  must  dis 
guise  his  anguish,  "  which  ground  his  heart  like  a  mill," 
and  must  make  himself  agreeable  to  master  Lars.  When 
the  king  wished  to  restrain  a  dishonest  chamberlain,  master 
Lars  had  winked  to  him  to  know  "  what  his  majesty  wanted 
with  so  much  money,  good  friends  being  better  and  more 
profitable  than  much  money."  At  first  the  chancellor  had 
declared  that  the  bishops  ought  not  to  have  greater  power 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  297 

than  the  king  would  grant  them,  but  afterward  had  gone 
backward  like  a  crab,  and  claimed  for  the  bishops  peculiar 
respect  and  independent  might  and  power,  though  he  well 
knew  that  temporal  jurisdiction  does  not  belong  to  them 
except  as  administrators  of  the  people. 

Master  Lars  thus  wished,  as  is  evident  from  this  last  point 
of  accusation,  that  the  church  should  not  sacrifice  its  in 
dependence,  by  becoming,  in  the  moment  of  its  deliverance 
from  Roman  oppression,  subject  to  the  temporal  power  of 
the  land.  Although  he  did  not  undertake  to  carry  through 
his  plan  in  a  manner  that  admitted  no  alteration  in  details, 
he  laid  the  foundation  of  that  admirable  form,  in  which  the 
Swedish  church  afterward  developed  itself.  That  which  his 
successors  in  the  king's  favor  laid  to  his  charge,  distinguishes 
him  as  one  of  the  most  clear-sighted  and  deep  thinking 
minds  that  were  ever  engaged  in  the  establishment  of  a 
protestant  church. 

Charges  were  made  in  common,  against  master  Lars  and 
master  Olof,*  to  the  effect,  that  the  latter,  through  the  con 
fessional,  became  acquainted  with  the  plot  of  the  German 
burghers  of  Stockholm  against  the  king's  life,  that  he  as 
well  as  master  Lars,  to  whom  it  was  communicated,  con-  j 
cealed  it,  that  they  had  taken  part  with  the  iconoclasts  of 
Stockholm  in  1524,  that  they  plundered  churches  and  monas 
teries,  and  pulled  down  altars,  and  had  done  many  the  like 
things. 

Olof,  in  particular,  was  complained  of,  for  his  chronicles  \ 
and  sermons.     In  the  former  work  he  appears  to  the  king,  f 
as  the  latter  reports,  to  have  too   indulgently  painted  the  '' 
Romish  times,  and   to  have  given  side  cuts  to  his  own  con 
temporaries.     The  charge  against  the  sermons  was  partic-  ! 

*  Master  Lars  was  also  accused  of  having  persuaded  the  king  to  make 
the  incompetent  Olof  chancellor,  -when  he  himself,  from  age,  could  no  longer 
hold  the  office.  Olof  became  chancellor  in  1531,  when  he  resigned  the  duties 
of  secretary  to  the  council  of  Stockholm,  and  was  dismissed  in  1533. 

13* 


298  HISTORY    OP    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

ularly  directed  to  the  one,  in  which  Olof  represented  certain 
mock  suns  that  appeared  in  the  heaven,  as  foreboding  pun 
ishment  for  the  sins  of  the  sovereign.  He  had,  moreover, 
Perverted  the  Scripture,  to  induce  the  king  to  spare  the  lives 
if  traitors,  and  it  seems  to  have  been  included  in  the  charges 
against  the  sermons,  that  instead  of  teaching  the  people  the 
catechism,  they  discoursed  of  the  Revelation  of  St.  John. 

The  court  consisted  of  fifteen  of  the  king's  "  council  and 

good  men,"  among  whom,  besides  the  two  foreigners,  Peu- 

tinger  and  Norman,  may  be  noticed  the  three  ecclesiastical 

members,  archbishop  Laurentius  Pctri,   brother   of  Olaus, 

f  the  bishops  Bothvid  of  Striingness,  a  friend  of  Olaus,  and 

iHenrik  of  Wcstcras.     After  the  accused  had  tirst  denied  all 

Intentional  offence,  but  after  they  had  confessed  themselves 

guilty,  and  on  their  knees  begged  mercy,  the  doom  of  death 

•  was  pronounced   upon    them,   at   Orebro,   on  January  2d. 

/1 510.     Three  commissioners  from  the  court,  with  two  of 

j  the  spectators,  one  a  Swede  arid  one  a  German,  either  the 

J  hearers  of  Olaus  at  Stockholm  or  inhabitants  of  the  town 

of  his  birth,  where  he  was  doomed,  went  to  the  king  to  beg 

a  remission  of  the  sentence.      This  was  finally  granted,  but 

with   a  heavy  amercement,  which   the   friends  of  Olaus  at 

Stockholm   paid  for  him,  but  which  master  Lars  paid   out 

of  his  own  resources,  which  by  such  a  disbursement  were 

nearly  exhausted. 

Laurentius  Andrea?  withdrew  after  this  tragedy,  from  the 
scene  of  public  life.  There  was  no  place  found  for  his 
energy  in  the  times  immediately  succeeding,  and  his  age 
entitled  him  to  repose.  He  retired  to  Striingness,  after 
participating  for  nearly  seventy  years  in  the  public  affairs 
of  church  and  state.  He  passed  peacefully  in  his  retreat 
the  last  twelve  years  of  life  till  his  death,  on  April  29th, 
1552,  some  days  after  the  decease  of  Olaus  Pctri.  Charles 
IX.,  the  son  of  king  Gustavus,  made,  in  the  face  of  posterity, 
an  atonement  to  the  memory  of  Laurentius,  when,  on  ex- 


4 
REFO11MATION    IN    SWEDEN.  299 

animation  of  it,  he  would  not  allow  the  charges  against  the 
brothers  to  remain  in  the  history  of  his  father.  But  full 
justice  has  scarcely  yet  been  rendered  the  man  who  has  the 
merit  of  having  first  led  the  way  to  a  reform  of  the  Swedish 
church,  and  led  it  on  the  basis  of  sense  and  moderation,  by 
which,  for  the  most  part,  it  went  forward  though  amid  con 
tinual  struggles. 

The  intervention  of  the  king  in  the  affairs  of  the  church,  N 
was  now  for  a  time  chiefly  under  the  influence  of  his  new  \ 
chancellor,  Von  Pyhy  or  Peutinger.  But  the  active  meas 
ures,  through  which  the  king  was  expected  to  effect  a  more 
complete,  and,  for  the  enlightenment  and  peace  of  the  land, 
a  more  decisive  improvement,  were  intrusted  to  G-.  Norman. 
On  the  8th  of  August,  1539,  the  king  made  known,  "as  the 
supreme  defender  of  the  Christian  faith  over  his  whole 
realm,"  and,  in  a  letter  directed  to  all  his  bishops,  prelates, 
and  other  spiritual  pastors  and  preachers,  that,  having  with 
sorrow  found,  how,  in  times  past,  strange  schismatical 
preachers  seduced  his  subjects,  under  pretext  of  gospel  free 
dom,  into  disobedience  and  carnal  liberty  against  their 
sovereign,  he  now  appointed  George  Norman  as  his  ordinary 
and  superintendent  This  Norman  was,  with  consent  of  a 
council  and  adjunct,  appointed  for  the  purpose,  to  exercise 
the  king's  jurisdiction  over  bishops,  prelates,  and  all  other 
spiritual  persons.*  He  was  to  take  care,  that  bishops  and 
preachers  should  set  an  example  in  doctrine  and  life  to  the 
king's  "  poor  subjects,"  who  partly  wandered  in  the  dark 
ness  of  simplicity  (the  friend  of  truth),  and  should  instruct 
the  people  in  the  ways  of  charity,  peace,  and  obedience  to 
their  temporal  prince.  Civil  and  criminal  cases  he  was  to 
remit  to  the  king,  and  see  that  nothing  was  undertaken  to 
the  king's  prejudice,  by  bishops,  prelates,  or  spiritual  per- 

*  The  term  priest  does  not  occur  in'  the  transactions  of  the  king's 
chancery,  during  the  time  of  Von  Pyhy,  but  was  changed  for  the  corre 
spondent  German  word  for  spiritual  persons  (geistliche). 


k 

300  HISTORY    OF    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

sons,  and  that  no  jurisdiction  was  exercised  by  them.  All 
spiritual  persons  were  to  be  put  in  office  by  him  with  the 
king's  patent,  visitations  were  to  be  made  by  him  at  the  places 
and  times  named  by  the  king.  The  doctrine  and  lives  of 
spiritual  persons  and  preachers  were  to  be  examined  by  him. 
Those  who  were  incompetent  to  instruct,  were,  but  with 
the  king's  consent,  to  be  removed,  and-  others  put  in  their 
places.  Those  who  lived  lives  worthy  of  punishment,  or 
taught  anything  contrary  to  God's  word  and  civil  order, 
were  to  be  sent  by  him  to  the  king,  or  left  in  sure  trusty 
hands. 

This  regulation  was,  in  conclusion,  so  modified  that,  after 
the  visitations  of  the  superintendent,  elders,  probably  laymen, 
were  appointed  by  the  king  to  inspect  the  places  visited  by 
the  superintendent  or  his  adjunct,  and  see  that  what  they 
\verc  directed  to  do  was  effectually  put  into  execution. 
Over  these  elders,  was  also  appointed  a  conservator,  who 
was  a  layman,  and  who  was  to  have  the  oversight  of  the 
visitation  of  these  elders.  He  was  to  see  that  the  established 
doctrine  and  discipline  were  observed,  to  punish  ecclesias 
tics,  who,  either  for  error  of  life  or  doctrine,  were  com 
plained  of  by  the  ciders,  unless  the  offence  were  that  of 
Icrsce  majestotiS)  high  treason.  He  was  to  assist  the  elders  on 
their  visitations  if  requested,  to  receive  visitation  reports 
and  transmit  them  to  the  superintendent.  To  the  superin 
tendent  he  was  to  submit  the  more  difficult  cases,  respecting 
ceremonies,  divine  worship,  or  marriage,  and  abide  by  his 
judgment.  He  was  to  appear  before  the  superintendent  and 
his  adjunct,  and  aid  them  if  they  again  made  a  visitation 
of  the  places  where  they  had  before  been.  He  was  to 
protect  ecclesiastics  in  their  office,  and  see  that  their  sti 
pends  were  paid,  to  use  the  king's  jurisdiction  and  judgment 
over  spiritual  persons  and  their  tenants,  and  inspect  the 
hospitals. 

Over  the    conservator  was    placed    the    superintendent, 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  301 

as  exercising  the  king's  highest  power  over  the  church.  A 
,  council  of  religion  of  whose  meetings,  however,  nothing  was 
said,  were  to  be  his  advisers.  A  council  of  the  church, 
when  occasion  required,  was  to  be  called  together  by  the 
king,  to  deliberate  on  doctrine,  ceremonies,  and  divine  wor 
ship,  schools,  universities,  and  the  support  of  the  poor.  At 
this  council  were  to  assemble,  the  superintendent,  his  adjunct, 
the  council  of  religion,  and  all  the  conservators.  *  At  the 
council  of  the  church,  the  church  ordinances  were  to  be  ex 
amined  which  the  king  purposed  to  introduce. 

Through  this  complicated  discipline,  which  the  king  set 
up  "  by  virtue  of  his  authority,"  he  actually  annulled  the 
treaty  and  ordinantia  of  Westeras.  Through  this,  was 
transferred  from  the  Swedish  people  to  the  king,  the  power 
to  withdraw  the  wealth  and  property  bestowed  on  the 
church  by  the  crown  and  individuals,  and  to  take  the  over 
sight  of  the  administration  of  the  bishops.  By  these  regu 
lations  were  the  bishops  so  set  aside,  that  no  exercise  of  their 
office  seems  to  have  been  left  them,  except  the  ordination 
of  priests.  All  thai,  now  seemed  wanting  to  be  done  was 
formally  to  suppress  the  episcopal  office,  and  declare  the 
government  of  the  church,  according  to  the  German  pattern, 
to  belong  to  the  temporal  ruler  of  the  land,  who  might 
decide  on  Christian  faith  and  worship  with  the  same  pro 
priety  as  in  the  use  of  his  civil  jurisdiction.  The  king's 
privileges  within  the  church  rested,  not  on  the  church's 
commission,  but  on  his  own  royal  might  and  power. 

In  1540,  the  king  from  Orebro  had  spread  over  the  king 
dom  his  edict,  "that  by  virtue  of  his  high  and  kingly 
authority,"  he  desired  to  remove  all  kinds  of  false  and  per 
verse  doctrines  which  might  be  current  in  the  church.* 

*  In  the  academy  of  Upsala  were  found  certain  "articuli  ordinantia" 
among  which  was  the  prohibition  to  use  such  psalms  in  Swedish  as  might 
"give  occasion  to  carnal  liberty  ;"  such  as,  "  The  snare  is  broken  and  we  are 
delivered." 


302  HISTORY    OF   THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

The  regulations  of  which  we  have  spoken  were  so  imme 
diately  carried  into  execution,  that  Norman  and  his  adjunct; 
bishop  Henrik  of  Westeras,  commenced  their  visitation  of 
West  Gothland  in  the  autumn  of  1539,  and  finished  it  before 
April  of  the  following  year.  Certain  articles  respecting 
doctrine  and  church  usages  were  proposed  to  the  priests, 
and  answered  by  them.  A  visitation  of  Vermland  was  made 
in  the  course  of  the  same  year,  as  also  of  East  Gothland, 
which  was  completed  before  the  end  of  the  month  of  July. 
The  only  information,  and  it  is  brief,  which  we  have  of 
these  visitations  is  derived  from  that  which  was  made  of 
the  monastery  of  Wadstcn.  The  superintendent  and  his 
adjunct  came  there  on  Whit  Sunday,  May  16,  1540,  per 
formed  the  mass  in  Swedish,  and  forbade  all  ceremonies  in 
memorial  of  the  saints,  except  the  prayer  pro  pace.  On 
Trinity  Sunday,  bishop  Henrik  performed  mass  and  preached 
in  the  church  of  the  monastery.  The  day  after,  Nicholas 
Amundi  preached  there,  whom  the  visitors  chose  as  father- 
confessor,  after  compelling  the  former  occupant  of  that 
office  to  lay  it  down.  They  finally  took  an  inventory  of 
the  chattels  of  the  cloister. 

In  1541,  when  Norman  was  prevented  by  engagements 
relating  to  the  state,  bishop  Henrik  was  appointed  in  con 
nection  with  Isaac  Birgersson  for  Empteryd,  and  John  Olsson 
for  Asa,  to  make  a  visitation  over  the  whole  of  Smaland. 
The  fief  of  Calmar  was  included.  The  appointment  is  more 
limited  than  that  given  to  the  superintendent.  They 
were  to  impress  upon  the  priests  the  observance  of  the 
church  ordinances,  respecting  doctrine  and  ceremonies  issued 
by  the  king  through  the  superintendent.  Bishop  Henrik 
was  to  see  that  the  priests  led  correct  lives,  but  all  the  more 
difficult  cases  were  to  be  referred  to  the  king. 

The  visitors  who  were  appointed  for  Smaland,  took  also 
another  commission,  kindred  to  that  used  by  superintendent 
Norman,  in  the  parts  he  visited,  although  nothing  of  this 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  303 

is  mentioned  in  his  own  commission.  They  were  to  take 
an  inventory  of  all  the  valuables  and  silver  not  needed  for 
public,  worship.  These  were  to  be  scaled  up  and  kept 
safely,  till  the  king  should  have  need  of  them  for  "  his  own 
necessities  and  those  of  the  kingdom,  and  for  Christian  uses 
and  purposes." 

During  these  visitations,  commenced  the  plundering  of 
churches,  which  does  so  little  honor  to  the  memory  of  this 
great  king.  The  silver  tribute,  levied  in  1523,  upon  churches 
and  cloisters,  was  allowed  by  the  estates  of  the  kingdom  and 
by  the  heads  of  the  church,  and  had  the  aspect  of  a  loan  or 
free-will  offering.  The  valuables  which,  at  the  dissolution 
of  a  cloister,  were  transferred  to  the  treasury  of  the  king, 
might  be  considered  as  a  lapsed  inheritance  returning  to  the 
heir,  and  even  the  gifts  of  individuals  be  so  construed. 

But  now,  the  property  taken,  could  in  no  sense  be  called 
a  fief,  nor  was  its  application  a  case  of  necessity,  and  the 
surrender  of  the  silver  was  not  with  the  good  will  of  the 
parishioners.  The  king  did  not  apply  for  the  consent  of 
the  council  or  the  estates,  but  merely  declares,  that  "  for 
certain  remarkably  well-grounded  and  substantial  reasons, 
he  had,  considering  the  necessities  of  the  crown  and  kingdom, 
caused  to  be  inventoried  and  kept,  the  silver  money  and 
other  valuables  of  the  churches,  to  be  applied  to  the  service 
of  God,  as  they  had  been  hitherto  misused  by  these  churches 
to  unchristian  purposes." 

It  was  left  to  the  judgment  of  the  visitors  to  determine 
what,  and  if  anything,  should  be  left  to  the  maintenance 
of  the  churches,  or  as  necessary  for  public  worship.  The 
things  considered  most  unnecessary,  without  taking  into 
account  the  coined  gold  and  silver,  were  the  images  of  saints, 
with  their  ornaments  and  shrines.  To  the  list,  were  added 
rings,  crosses,  vessels  for  frankincense,  and  the  like,  not 
omitting  chalices  and  patens  of  gold  and  silver.  The  amount 
of  the  precious  metals  gathered  in  masses  was  not  incon- 


304  HISTORY    OF   THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

siderable.  Master  Norman  remitted  from  all  the  country 
churches  in  East  and  West  Gothland  seven  thousand  and 
ninety-eight  marks  of  pure  silver.  The  tributes  levied  on 
cathedrals,  town  churches,  and  cloisters,  amounted  "to  an 
enormous  sum.  From  the  cathedral  of  Wexio  were  taken 
a  gold  chalice  of  two  pounds  weiglii,  with  gilded  silver 
chalices  and  patens,  and  many  other  things  of  great 
value.  There  appears  to  have  been  no  estimate  made  of  the 
jewels  carried  oiF,  but  there  is  no  question  of  their  vast 
amount. 

The  king  wras  not  disposed  to  abandon  the  golden  mine 
which  was  opened  to  him,  when  once  he  had  adjudged  to  the 
crown  whatever  the  church  was  thus  thought  able  to  spare, 
in  view  of  the  altered  state  of  public  worship.  The  process 
was  continued  during  almost  all  the  rest  of  his  reign,  per 
haps  interrupted,  during  the  disturbances  which  soon  fol 
lowed  this  collection  of  taxes  in  Smaland,  and,  probably, 
with  an  observance  of  greater  caution.  In  1545,  bishop 
Henrik  had  negotiated  with  the  peasants,  as  likely,  in  his 
own  diocese,  to  let  the  king  have  the  superfluous  silver, 
"  that  it  might  not  be  used  in  the  old  way."  A  part  of 
them  had  offered  of  their  own  accord  to  give  it  up  to  the 
king,  with  which  he  declares  himself  to  be  "  greatly  con 
tent."  From  Helsingland,  the  church  silver  was  sent 
to  the  king  in  1547,  but  the  messengers  made  known,  that, 
in  the  church  of  Delsbo  there  was  a  great  deal  that  could  be 
dispensed  with.  The  king's  country  steward,  Nils  Helsing, 
was  accordingly  ordered  to  search  into  the  matter,  and  send 
what  was  there  to  be  found.  In  1548,  John,  the  pastor  of 
Rygdea,  remitted  chalices,  patens,  crosses,  and  broken  silver, 
from  the  southern  provostship  of  Westerbottcn.  Ten  years 
later,  the  churches  in  the  lief  of  Abo  were  taxed,  and  very 
little  left  them. 

The  search  for  whatever  of  value  was  to  be  found  in  church 
es,  led  to  the  concealment  of  precious  things,  till  better  times. 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  305 

Thus,  the  king  having  obtained  information  of  such  a  treasure 
concealed  under  the  high  altar  of  the  church  of  Mora,  com 
mands  the  altar  to  be  taken  down,  and  what  was  beneath  it 
to  be  dug  up.  When  churches  ceased  to  be  used  for  divine 
service,  or  were  pulled  down,  as  was  the  case  with  too  many 
in  West  Gothland,  the  king  declared  that  the  bells  and 
church  silver  belonged  to  the  crown  and  ought  to  be  trans 
ferred  to  it.  Sometimes  he  gave  away  the  church  silver : 
he  presented,  in  1546,  Svante  Sture  and  his  wife  Martha, 
the  sister-in-law  of  Gustavus,  with  a  crown,  two  garlands, 
and  all  the  rest  of  the  silver  in  the  church  of  Morko,  with 
the  exception  only  of  two  chalices  and  what  was  necessary 
to  the  use  of  the  congregation. 

This  plundering  could  not  but  awraken  dissatisfaction.  It 
poured  oil  upon  the  fire,  which,  never  fully  quenched,  began 
to  blaze  anew.  A  better  acquaintance  with  the  course 
adopted  at  the  visitations,  respecting  divine  service,  priests, 
and  ornaments,  would  doubtless  prove,  how  greatly  this  dis 
content  was  fostered  by  the  acts  of  the  visitors.  At  least 
we  know  that  the  shrines  and  ornaments  of  the  images  were 
carried  off.  It  is  probable,  that  the  images  themselves 
were  removed  or  destroyed  when  the  invocation  of  saints 
was  prohibited,  and  that  the  Swedish  manual  and  mass- 
book  of  Olaus  Petri,  of  both  of  which  new  editions  appeared 
in  1540,  were  recommended  or  introduced,  without  the 
caution  which,  in  1539,  was  required.  It  is  also  probable 
that  a  stricter  inquiry  than  hitherto,  into  the  abilities  and 
life  of  the  priests,  was  instituted,  and  that  this  is  a  reason 
why  some  of  them  placed  themselves  on  the  side  of  the 
malcontents.  These  probabilities  are  fortified  by  the  dis 
turbances  which,  notwithstanding  the  quiet  in  other  quarters, 
arose  in  Smaland  and  the  adjacent  province,  subjected  to  the 
ecclesiastical  visitation  ;  disturbances  which  were  the  last  and 
fiercest  to  check  and  overthrow  the  new  order  of  things 
within  the  church  as  well  as  the  civil  government.  As 


306  HISTORY   OF   THE   ECCLESIASTICAL 

early  as  the  month  of  April,  1540,  when  the  visitation  of 
West  Gothland  was  threatened,  a  peasant  of  that  province 
began  to  draw  followers  around  him,  declaring  his  inten 
tion  to  slay  the  knights,  and  nobles,  and  all  others  who  held 
to  the  Lutheran  doctrine.  This  insurrectionary  movement 
was,  however,  stifled  at  its  commencement.  During  the 
autumn  of  the  same  year,  there  was  a  hot  ferment  in  East 
Gothland  and  Smaland.  , To  this,  explosion  was  added,  pre 
vious  to  1542,  the  insurrection  raised  by  the  celebrated 
peasant  Dacke.  Among  the  grievances  enumerated  by  the 
people  against  the  nobles  and  stewards  of  the  king,  com 
plaint  was  made,  "  that  the  ornaments  were  taken  from  the 
churches  and  cloisters,  and  all  that  their  fathers  and  fore 
fathers  had  given  and  designed  for  the  glory  of  God,  so  that 
it  would  soon  be  as  pleasant  to  go  into  an  empty  wood  as 
into  a  church."  They  demanded,  that  the  mass  and  other 
church  usages  should  be  continued,  as  hitherto  had  been 
customary,  "  for  a  child  could  soon  whistle  forth  a  mass." 
They  said  that  a  poor  man  who  fell  into  danger  or  mis 
fortune  could  "  enjoy  no  peace  in  a  church  or  a  cloister," 
that  the  principle  hitherto,  for  the  most  part,  pursued,  not 
to  press  the  Reformation  forward  faster  than  previous  in 
struction  would  enable  it  to  avoid  scandal,  was  now  for 
gotten.  If  the  outward  magnificence  of  divine  worship 
were  taken  away,  in  order  that  the  people  might  be  taught 
to  worship  God  in  spirit  and  in  truth,  and  in  order  that  the 
law  might  give  protection  alike  to  high  and  low,  yet  the 
want  was  bitterly  felt  of  a  sanctuary  which,  in  necessity, 
might  be  the  refuge  of  the  helpless. 

The  man,  Von  Pyhy,  who  during  this  period  directed 
the  movements  of  Gustavus,  began  to  lose  the  confidence  of 
his  sovereign.  It  was  altogether  withdrawn  in  the  autumn 
of  1543,  at  which  time  he  was  put  in  prison,  though  after 
ward  released.  The  general  ill  will  toward  this  councillor, 
and  the  measures  and  steps  that  were  taken  during  his  ad- 


REFORMATION   IN    SWEDEN,  307 

ministration,  induced  the  king  to  allow  the  church  ordi 
nances,  projected  by  him,  in  a  great  degree  to  fall  to  the 
ground.  They  were  never  fully  carried  out,  certainly  not 
in  the  provinces,  especially  West  Gothland,  for  which  they 
were  designed.  The  king  consulted  with  the  "  stadtholder," 
Gustav  Olsson,  who  seems  to  have  been  appointed  conserv 
ator,  respecting  the  hospitals  in  "West  Gothland,  the  care  of 
which  belonged  to  the  conservator,  and  gave  him  a  com 
mission  to  inquire  into  the  application  of  a  peasant  for  a 
divorce.  But  these  cases  might  seem  to  belong  to  the  civil 
administration  and  courts  of  justice.  The  bishops,  too,  who, 
under  the  late  regulations,  appeared  to  be  superfluous,  kept 
up  at  least  the  name.  Henrik  of  Westerns,  called  himself 
bishop,  and  so  were  called  from  this  time  Jons  of  Wexio, 
and  Sven  of  Skara.  The  last  named,  who,  after  the  regu 
lations  made  for  West  Gothland,  in  1540,  was  called  the 
king's  under-chanccllor,  received  that  year  an  augmentation 
of  his  income ;  and  in  1541,  the  king  issued  in  favor  of 
lis/iops,  prebends,  canons,  and  church  priests,  a  letter  of  pro 
tection  against  the  requirement  of  unreasonable  hospitality. 
The  authority  of  Norman  in  the  church  did  not  cease  by 
any  positive  and  explicit  edict.  The  commissions,  however, 
issued  from  and  after  the  year  1544,  to  the  heads  of  the 
church,  do  not  mention  him,  though  in  a  letter  of  1545,  the 
king  commands  the  chapter  of  Skara  to  obey  him. 

But  in  order  to  proceed  farther  in  representing  the  posi 
tion  of  the  church  after  the  reform  of  Peutingcr,  we  must 
fasten  attention  upon  the  most  important  step  which,  at  this 
time,  was  taken  for  the  true  improvement  of  the  Swedish 
church. 


308  HISTORY    OF    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 


CHAPTER    VIII. 

TRANSLATION  OF  TOE  BIBLE  INTO  SWEDISH  IN  1541— PROGRESS  0* 
THE  REFORMATION— ORDINANTIA  OF  WESTERAS  IN  1544— CHANGE 
IN  CONDITION  OF  BISHOPS,  CHAPTERS,  AND  PARISH  PRIESTS. 

TILL    KING   JOHN    IIl.'s    ACCESSION    TO    THE    THRONE    IN    15G8.) 

THE  work  of  inwardly  improving  the  church,  of  deliver 
ing  the  souls  of  men  from  the  chains  of  unbelief  and  self- 
righteousness,  in  which  the  false  and  superstitious  forms  of 
the  church  had  bound  them,  was  that  fruit  of  the  Reformation 
which  docs  not  draw  the  notice  of  men,  especially  at  a  time 
when  efforts  and  attention  were  demanded  to  remove  the 
hinderances  which  the  church's  own  institutions  presented. 
Great  caution  was  needed  that  the  wheat  might  not  be 
rooted  up  with  the  weeds.  This  work  is  by  no  means  of 
man,  but  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  Men  can,  in  this  respect,  do 
no  more  than  open  for  every  heart  an  access  to  the  word, 
which  is  eternal  and  can  save  the  soul  and  cause  the  life  to 
bear  witness  to  its  sanctifying  efficacy. 

The  four  years,  from  1526  to  1529,  had  been  especially 
remarkable  in  the  Swedish  church,  for  the  efforts  used  to 
bring  the  word  of  truth  and  life  home  to  the  hearts  of  the 
people.  The  translation  of  the  New  Testament ;  the  many 
writings  which  treated  of  the  word,  and  exhibited  its  mean 
ing,  purpose,  and  doctrine ;  the  decree  which  paved  the  way 
for  its  free  promulgation,  and  provided  for  its  illustration ; 
and  the  removal  of  those  temptations  which  turned  the 
church  of  Christ  into  a  kingdom  of  this  world,  may  be 
numbered  among  such  efforts. 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  809 

As  from  this  time  there  was  a  lively  and  uninterrupted 
progress  of  the  principles  promulgated  as  those  of  the  Refor 
mation,  it  was  not  forgotten,  that  hitherto  there  existed  no 
translation  of  the  whole  of  the  Sacred  Volume  into  the 
Swedish  mother  tongue.  The  preface  to  the  New  Testament 
of  1526,  had  made  known  that  the  Old,  with  God's  help, 
might  soon  be  expected.  The  Psalter  appeared  ten  years 
later,  but  the  whole  Bible  for  the  first  time  in  1541. 

It  appears  that  the  multiplicity  of  business  consequent 
upon  the  diet  of  1527  and  its  decree,  had  prevented  the  two 
foremost  men  at  that  time,  engaged  in  the  cause  of  the 
Reformation,  from  taking  in  hand  a  translation  of  the  Old 
Testament.  Martin  Luther,  who,  by  his  example,  prompted 
the  work  of  a  Swedish  translation,  had  not  in  1534,  com 
pleted  his  own  in  German,  of  which,  however,  some.por- 
tions  came  out  in  the  following  year.  We  suppose,  that 
as  soon  as  Laurentius  Petri  was  elevated  to  the  archiepis- 
copal  chair,  and  was  able  to  reduce  the  business  and  claims 
of  his  office,  the  work  was  undertaken  and  afterward  carried 
on  without  interruption.  It  was  begun  before  1536,  when 
the  Psalter  was  ready  and  printed.  In  1538,^it  was  deter 
mined  to  begin  the  printing  of  the  Old  Testament.  Tiiis 
was  completed  at  Upsala,  at  the  close  of  the  year  1540, 
without  the  Apocryphal  books,  but  with  which  and  the  New 
Testament,  the  whole  Bible  was  printed  and  published  in 
1541. 

The  church  paid  the  expenses  of  this  edition  of  the  Bible, 
out  of  funds  whose  management  was  in  the  king's  hands. 
The  incomes  of  the  archdeaconate  of  Upsala  were  used  for 
the  printing  of  the  Bible,  after  Laurentius  Andreas  had 
ceased  to  receive  them.  From  the  tithes  of  every  church 
also,  there  was  appropriated  to  this  object,  the  yearly  pay 
ment  of  one  barrel  of  pure  rich  corn,  which  even  to  this 
day  is  payable,  under  the  denomination  of  the  Bible  barrel, 
although  diverted  as  a  crown  tax  to  wholly  different  pur- 


310  HISTORY    OF   THE    ECCLESIASTIC  AT, 

poses.  In  1538,  bishop  Bothvid  assigned  to  Olaus  Petri 
five  hundred  marks  for  the  purchase  of  paper  on  which  to 
print  the  Old  Testament,  but  whether  this  was  a  private 
gift  or  drawn  from  some  public  fund  we  do  not  venture  to 
decide. 

Archbishop  Laurentius  Andreas  was  he  who  took  the  lead 
in  the  work  of  translation.  But  he  himself  reports,  that 
others  participated  with  him  in  the  labor,  without,  however, 
giving  the  names  of  his  coadjutors.  Here,  as  in  the  trans 
lation  of  the  New  Testament  in  152C,  the  human  instruments 
are  concealed,  as  if  to  intimate,  that  no  name  of  man  may 
mix  its  empty  glory  with  the  work  of  the  Lord.  This 
silence  is,  doubtless,  no  small  part  of  the  true  honor  of  the 
translators. 

If  may  be  taken  for  granted,  that  Olaus  Petri  was  not  a 
stranger  to  this  work.  It  is  probable,  also,  that  Laurentius 
Andreas,  and  bishop  Bothvid  of  Striingness,  who  seems  to 
have  been  a  man  of  extensive  information  and  of  the  re 
formed  principles,  both  concurred  and  took  part  in  the 
undertaking.  Although  the  archbishop  seems  to  intimate 
that  they  were  engaged  in  the  work  of  translation  at  Upsala, 
yet  is  there  nothing  known  of  the  number  of  those  who,  in 
that  city,  may  be  supposed  to  have  been  the  most  active 
workmen.  It  would  be  vain  to  search,  with  any  hope  of 
success,  for  any  one  but  the  archbishop,  to  whom,  for  this 
gift,  the  Swedish  church  is  under  such  great  obligations — the 
greater,  as  this  translation  is  still,  with  very  few  changes, 
the  Swedish  church  Bible. 

The  translation  of  the  New  Testament  in  the  Bible  of 
1541,  is,  though  not  in  meaning,  yet  in  words  and  the  posi 
tion  of  words,  so  different  from  that  of  1526,  that  the  former 
may,  with  reason,  be  called  a  new  translation.  Beside  the 
means  accessible  in  Upsala,  the  archbishop  borrowed  books 
of  George  Norman,  till  he  was  himself  able  to  procure 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  311 

them.*  The  language  is  the  purest  and  most  beautiful 
which  has  yet  appeared  in  any  Swedish  book,  although  here 
and  there  places  are  found  which  too  much  remind  us  of  the 
faithful  use  of  Luther's  German  translation. 

With  this  translation  of  the  Bible,  Laurentius  Petri  ap- 
pears  on  the  scene  o!'  action,  with  a  more  prominent  and 
steadily  increasing  influence  in  the  momentous  concerns  of 
the  Swedish  church.  This,  and  still  more  the  importance 
of  the  subject,  require  that  we  call  attention  to  two  circum 
stances,  which  are  in  the  highest  degree  significant  of  the 
character  of  the  Swedish  church.  The  first  is,  that  the 
preface  to  this  translation  expressly  gives  notice,  that  "  the 
Latin  Bible  is  not  so  much  followed  as  the  German  of  doc 
tor  Martin  Luther,  as  well  in  the  preface,  glosses,  notes, 
concordances,  and  order,  as  in  the  text  itself;  because  this 
same  German  Bible  is  not  only  much  clearer  and  better  to 
be  understood  than  the  Latin,  but  because  it  also  more  ap 
proximates  to  the  Hebrew  text."  It  is  the  first  time  that 
Luther  is  quoted  in  a  writing,  which  if  it  did  not  go  forth 
in  the  name -of  the  church,  may  be  regarded  as  a  declara 
tion  given  in  the  name  of  the  church.  It  was  the  com 
mencement  of  an  evangelical  Lutheran  church  in  Sweden. 
But  it  is  also  declared,  that  this  translation  of  the  Bible  was 
undertaken,  in  order  to  provide  a  version  more  conformable 
to  the  original  Hebrew  Scriptures  than  the  Latin  version 
hitherto  used  in  the  western  tfhurch.  That  version  which 
the  Roman  church,  five  years  later,  adopted  in  its  own 


*  Xorman.  had  written  to  the  archbishop  in  Latin  or  German.  The  arch 
bishop,  who  was  engaged  in  clothing  the  word  of  everlasting  life  in  a  good 
Swedish  dress,  answers  him  in  Swedish,  and  at  the  end  of  his  letter  says  : 
"  Because  I  have  observed  how  you  have  striven  to  learn  our  language,  as 
you  cannot  'well  do  without  it."  It  was  a  worthy  hint,  to  the  man  who,  at 
that  time,  as  the  king's  superintendent,  had  the  chief  direction  of  the  affairs 
of  the  Swedish  church.  But  the  hint  was  not  regarded  by  Norman.  Till  the 
year  1522,  being  the  year  before  his  death,  he  made  use  of  the  German 
language  in  a  speech  he  delivered  before  the  council  and  bishops  of  Sweden. 


312  HISTORY    OF   THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

communion,  being  the  Latin  vulgate,  is  here  pronounced  to 
be  neither  of  divine  inspiration,  nor  "  authentic." 

The  Swedish  church,  by  an  open  declaration  of  the  su 
periority  of  Luther's  translation  to  the  Latin,  announced 
/her  attachment  to  the  Reformation  ;  but  there  occurred  in 
'the  Swedish  translation,  another  circumstance,  in  which 
she  differed  from  Luther,  and  in  which  she  may,  with  equal 
reason,  be  said  to  have  declared  that  she  did  not  wish  so  to 
break  with  the  old  church,  as  to  appear  to  have  introduced 
a  new  constitution  or  discipline.  In  the  translation  of  152G, 
the  word  presbyters,  when  used  of  the  officers  of  the  Chris 
tian  church,  is  agreeably  to  Luther's  judgment  rendered, 
eldermen  (aeldersmaen) ;  and  it  is  said,  in  a  marginal  note, 
that  these  "  were  the  same  as  those  now  called  priests.  In 
1541,  this  word,  and  above  all  where  the  meaning  is 
clear,  is  translated  "priest"  and  thus  by  the  same  term 
Which  in  the  Old  Testament  designates  the  offerer  of  a  sacri 
fice  (offer  prester).  We  cannot  interpret  this  otherwise, 
than  an  intimation  that  these  elders  were,  in  the  New  Tes 
tament,  what  priests  were  in  the  old,  and  that  people  were 
not  brought  by  the  Information  into  a  now  church, 
although  the  offering  of  a  victim  in  the  Lord's  supper,  was 
disclaimed,  on  this  idea  all  the  abuses  and  errors  of  the  old 
church  being  in  close  dependence.  This  change  has  much 
significance,  when  we  reflect,  that  it  was  adopted  in  the 
Swedish  church  Bible,  and  that,  in  the  alterations  which 
emanated  from  the  king's  chancery,  respecting  the  manage 
ment  of  the  church,  the  terms  preachers  and  spiritual  per 
sons  were  used  instead  of  priest.* 

The  Bible  translation,  of  which  a  copy  was  placed  in 
every  church  in  the  kingdom,  was  in  a  measure  the  com- 


*  The  Latin  vulgate  has  the  latinized  word  presbyter,  and  thereby 
avoids  the  idea  of  sacerdos,  although  the  Roman  church  transfers  the  no 
tion  of  a  sacrificer,  in  the  senae  of  the  Old  Testament,  to  the  priest  of  the 
New.  It  is  observable  that  king  Charles  XII.'s  Bible  has  here  and  there 


REFORMATION   IN    SWEDEN.  313 

pletion  of  the  church  reform  by  Laurentius  Andrece,  and 
the  commencement  of  the  stricter  reform  in  which  the 
brothers  Olaus  and  Laurentius  Petri,  at  first  took  but  little 
part,  but  which  the  latter  afterward  carried  on,  more  in 
the  spirit  of  the  original  improvements  made  in  church  dis 
cipline.  This  stricter  reform  may  be  dated  from,  the  time 
when  king  Gustavus,  led  by  his  new  counsellor,  desired 
more  decisively  to  settle  and  alter  the  church's  faith,  usages, 
mid  constitution,  and  when  tire  outward  means  employed, 
manifested  more  expressly  than  before  an  opposition  to  the 
.Roman  system. 

The  king's  superintendent,  Norman,  and  his  assistants, 
had,  at  the  visitation  of  churches  in  Skara,  Linkoping,  and 
Wexio,  by  their  instructions  and  the  changes  they  ordered, 
made  current  more  rigid  protcstant  views  and  principles. 
They  were  not  promulgated  and  approved  by  the  Swedish 
church  and  state,  except  so  far  as  being  followed  and  put  in 
force  by  the  king  and  his  counsellors.  The  insurrection  of 
the  peasant  Dacke,  and  the  ferments  which  preceded  and 
followed,  within  the  kingdom,  somewhat  interfered  with 
their  being  thus  enforced,  and  paved  the  way  to  the  decay 
of  these  novel  ecclesiastical  measures  of  the  year  1540,  al 
though  the  king  was  confirmed  in  his  general  principles. 
He  made  a  more  complete  and  desirable  breach  with  the 
papacy,  when  it  became  apparent  that  the  discontents  and 
revolts  were  connected  with  the  changes  in  the  church,  and 
were  fostered  by  the  old  hierarchy.  Instructionary  letters 
sent  to  the  kingdom  by  the  former  bishop  Magnus  of  Skara, 
fell  into  the  hands  of  the  king,  and  convinced  him  there 
would  be  no  peace  as  long  as  in  the  church  there  was  a  foot 
hold  for  this  hierarchy.  Such  a  footh*old  appeared  to  him  to 

restored  the  word  elder,  so  that  in  Acts  xv.,  the  words  priest  and  elder  are- 
used  interchangeably  in  the  same  chapter  and  narrative.  I  acknowledge 
that  the  Swedish  is  the  only  protestant  church  which  in  its  translation  of 
the  Bible,  restores  the  word  priest  instead  of  presbyter. 

14 


314  HISTORY    OF    THE   ECCLESIASTICAL 

exist  in  the  old  church  usages,  which  themselves  originated 
from  false  doctrines.  From  a  propensity  to  these,  the 
changes  in  which  occurred  at  the  same  time  with  those  in 
the  civil  privileges  of  the  peasant,  the  people  heaped  on  him 
bitter  reproaches.  It  was  objected  that  they  wanted  to  rule 
in  matters  that  they  did  not  understand,  to  govern  the 
priests,  and  explain  the  Latin  tongue.  They  ought  to  con 
sider,  that  lately  the  bishops  and  priests  brought  the  father 
land  well  nigh  to  ruin.  "  Nay,  where  the  people  them 
selves  did  not  correct  the  evil,  it  was  to  be  feared  that  such 
would  always  be  the  case ;  so  that  archbishop  Gustav,  mas 
ter  Didrik,  and  others  like  them,  would  come  with  so  much 
papal  indulgence,  holy  water,  and  frankincense,  as  would 
make  our  nostrils  tingle." 

From  the  diet  of  "Westeras,  in  1527,  which  decreed  the 
reform  of  the  church,  without  which  king  Gustavus  believed 
himself  unable  to  keep  the  offered  crown,  seventeen  years 
had  rolled  away.  Four  years  after  the  council  of  the  king 
dom  did  him  homage  as  Arfking,  as  one  whose  descend 
ants  were  to  inherit  the  crown,  the  king  appeared  before  the 
estates  assembled  at  the  same  city  of  Westeras,  in  1544,  to 
confirm  to  him  the  title  of  arfking.  On  this  occasion,  he 
reminded  them  that  he  aimed  to  promote  sound  Christian 
doctrine,  and  to  procure  teachers  of  it  within  the  kingdom. 
He  was  well  aware  that  the  basis  of  this  doctrine  was  trust 
in  the  alone  availing  merits  of  Jesus  Christ.  He  urged  that 
public  worship  should  be  altered  into  a  conformity  with  this 
faith,  so  that  whatever  was  not  founded  on  the  Holy  Scrip 
tures,  should  be  rejected.  This  doctrine  the  old  clergy  had 
not  enforced  in  the  land  by  their  preaching.  He  expressed 
his  astonishment,  that -the  people  clung  to  the  old  bishops 
and  church  customs,  and  recalls  to  their  remembrance  the 
disasters  which  had  grown  out  of  the  plots  of  the  arch 
bishops,  John  Bengtsson  against  king  Charles  VHL,  Jacob 
Ulfsson  and  Gustav  Trolle  against  the  regent  Sten  Sture, 


REFORMATION   IN   SWEDEN.  315 

and   now,  from    the  machinations  of    bishop  Magnus  of 
Skara. 

The  changes  in  church  customs  which  resulted  from  the 
first  diet  of  Westeras,  were  confirmed  by  the  church  council, 
which,  in  1529,  was  held  at  Orebro.  Those  which  were 
now  considered  necessary,  were  confirmed  at  a,  council  of  the 
kingdom,  by  an  ordinantia.  A  new  confession  of  faith  was 
not  now  proposed,  but  the  old  declaration  was  more  for 
cibly  reiterated,  "  that  the  word  of  God  and  the  Holy  Gos 
pel  shall  be  more  generally  used  and  made  known  in  the 
Christian  congregations  here  in  Sweden."  Those  abuses, 
which,  in  1520,  were  merely  interpreted  to  a  better  mean 
ing,  or  others  which  had  not  hitherto  been  mentioned, 
were  now  forbidden.  Such  were  the  praying  to,  or  invoca 
tion  of  saints,  pilgrimages,  holy  water,  salt,  wax,  incense, 
consecration  at  church  gates,  or  at  home  in  houses,  corpora 
tion  feasts,  masses  for  souls,  and  the  so  called  yearly  promis 
sory  and  mortuary  masses.  All  these  were  forbidden.  The 
number  of  saints'  days  were  to  be  lessened,  and  some  regu 
lations  were  made  respecting  church  discipline.  The  king 
and  all  the  council  of  the  kingdom,  the  nobles,  bishops,  prelates, 
men  of  the  market  towns,  and  the,  commons,  pledged  themselves 
never  to  depart  from  the  doctrine  now  received. 

These  decrees  are  the  only  ones  publicly  followed,  and 
carried  out  during  the  last  twenty  years  of  king  Gustavus' 
reign  ;  but  changes  took  place  without  any  public  declara 
tion,  took  place  here  and  there,  till  they  became  by  degrees 
general  customs.  Among  these  customs,  as  a  consequence 
of  performing  the  mass  in  Swedish,  was  the  delivery  of  the 
cup  at  the  Lord's  supper,  to  laymen.  In  the  beginning  of 
the  reign  of  Erik  XIV,  a  council  was  held  at  Arboga,  in 
1561,  and  at  Stockholm  the  year  after,  under  the  presi 
dency  of  Laurentius  Petri,  the  archbishop,  which  were  in 
part  a  carrying  out  of  the  decree  that  in  1544  was  passed 
at  "Westeras.  As  a  necessary  consequence  of  the  prohibi- 


316  HISTORY    OV    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

tion  of  masses  for  souls,  it  was  now  for  the  first  time,  ex 
pressly  ordered  that  priests  should  riot  perform  mass  if  some 
communicants  were  not  present  to  receive ;  that  both  the 
bread  and  the  wine  should  be  delivered  to  communicants  ; 
and  that  neither  mead  nor  water,  nor  anything  else,  should 
be  used  instead  of  wine.  As  a  result  of  the  prohibition  of 
the  worship  of  saints,  and  of  foreign  usages  within  the 
church,  of  which  we  shall  speak  more  hereafter,  it  wras  or 
dered,  in  15  01,  that  no  images  should  be  allowed  in  churches, 
except  the  crucifix  and  altar-print.  This  order,  which  in 
many  places  was  not  obeyed,  was  repeated  in  1562,  with  a 
menace  of  the  king's  wrath  against  those  who  "  like  block 
heads  were  not  willing  to  root  out  images  and  idolatry  ;"  and 
the  bishops  were  directed  sternly  to  rebuke  the  priests  "  who 
suffered  or  consented  to  such  idolatry  in  their  congregations." 
An  application  of  the  interdict  against  masses  and  worship 
of  saints,  was  the  order  passed  at  this  council,  that  in  each 
church  there  should  be  no  more  than  one  altar  for  the  cele- 
bratioa  of  the  holy  supper  of  the  Lord,  "  since  more  altars 
led  to  idolatry,  and  ought,  beyond  all  contradiction,  to  be 
cast  out." 

The  ordinantia  of  1544  became  prevalent  over  the  whole 
kingdom.  It  may  be  taken  for  granted,  that  the  Swedish 
manual  and  mass  were  in  general  use,  and  that  the  remaining 
abrogated  church  usages  were  abandoned.  It  was  now  con 
sidered  superfluous  to  apprehend  scandal  from  the  unwise 
zeal  of  priests  and  others.  The  resistance,  as  is  commonly 
the  case,  was  sometimes  only  obstinacy  without  conviction, 
and  the  constraint  by  which  it  was  removed  was  not  always 
unwelcome  to  those  who  merely  lacked  courage  to  set  them 
selves  free  from  the  old  practices  and  discipline.  The 
change  was  promoted  by  the  measure  adopted  of  transfer 
ring  the  more  qualified  priests  to  congregations  whose  ignor 
ance  or  other  causes  hindered  the  purification  of  public 
worship.  A  large  number  of  these  priests  were  trained  by 
serving  as  chaplains  in  the  king's  court. 


REFORMATION    IX    SWEDEN.  317 

The  pastor  of  Skelleftea,  in  Westerbotten,  Herr  Bjorn, 
who  had  previously  been  a  prebend  of  Stockholm,  attempted, 
in  1536,  to  introduce  in  his  congregation  the  Swedish 
mass.  "  It  was  not  then,"  he  says,  "  much  welcomed."  It 
was  probably  at  once  laid  aside,  since  in  1544,  the  succeed 
ing  pastor,  who,  from  being  chaplain  there,  was  transferred 
to  the  peasant  church  in  Upsala,  and  now  was  again  trans 
ferred  to  Skelleftea  as  its  pastor,  reports,  that  up  to  that  time 
the  Lord's  Supper  had  not  been  administered  under  both 
the  elements,  but  on  the  contrary,  all  the  popish  ceremonies 
were  observed,  which  afterward  were  laid  aside  without 
noise  or  scandal.  This  was  not  always  the  case.  The 
scandal  was  not  always  avoided. 

Pastor  Jons  Joannis,  who,  after  having  been  king's  chaplain 
and  pastor  of  Tillinge,  was,  in  1538,  transferred  to  Ofvansjo, 
in  Gestrickland,  was  once,  for  his  zeal  against  popish  super 
stition,  well  nigh  thrown  over  the  church-yard  walls  by  the 
peasants.  When  Nils,  the  pastor  of  Asby,  in  East  Gothland, 
introduced  the  Swedish  mass  into  his  church,  the  indignant 
peasants  would  have  laid  violent  hands  upon  him  in  the 
church  itself,  had  not  a  fear  of  the  king  restrained  them. 
From  the  cloister  of  Wadsten  complaints  and  imprecations 
were  heard,  during  the  autumn  of  1543,  against  the  new 
bishop  of  Linkoping,  who,  at  a  visitation,  had  prohibited 
the  offering  up  of  a  victim  in  the  Eucharist.  The  new 
rulers  of  the  diocese  were  enjoined  to  take  care  that  the 
truth  should  be  preached,  all  sin  and  error  be  removed,  and 
that  all  papistic  and  superstitious  worship  should  be  abol 
ished. 

In  proportion  as  the  refor.ni  of  the  church  acquired  con 
sistence,  it  receded  from  the  popish  practices,  and  took  a 
decidedly  hostile  attitude.  In  1540,  popish  plots  began,  as 
we  have  remarked,  to  be  spoken  of  as  hinderances  to  the 
progress  of  gospel  preaching.  The  transactions  of  the  im 
mediately  succeeding  years  increased  the  feelings  of  sus- 


318  HISTORY    OF    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

picion  and  hate,  and  resulted  in  a  determination  to  crush 
such  plots.  From  the  year  1543  in  particular,  after  the 
insurrectionary  letter  of  bishop  Magnus  came  to  the  knowl 
edge  of  the  king,  and  many  priests  had  joined  the  rebellion 
of  Dacke,  measures  began  to  be  adopted,  which  were  not 
founded  on  any  express  penal  statutes  against  papists,  but 
were  expressions  of  the  will  of  a  master,  and  were  instead 
of  law.  They  were  chiefly  directed  against  the  priests  of 
Linkoping,  Skara,  and  Wexio,  many  of  whom  showed  an 
inclination  for  the  old  church,  or,  perhaps,  were  not  satisfied 
with  the  more  violent  alterations  which  took  place  in  the 
discipline  and  usages  of  the  church.  These  measures  were 
also  pursued  against  priests  in  other  parts  of  the  kingdom. 
They  reached  the  cloister  of  Wadsten,  of  the  stubborn 
"  popery"  of  whose  nuns  complaint  was  made  before  the 
king,  as  Petrus  Caroli  sadly  informs  us  in  his  history  of  • 
king  Erik  XIV.  The  officers  and  stewards  of  the  king  were 
ordered  to  keep  a  strict  watch  over  these  papistic  priests,  to 
remove  them  from  office,  to  send  them  prisoners  to  the 
king,  or  to  have  them  punished.  To  Wadsten,  the  king 
sent  a  competent  person  to  convert  the  nuns,  if  he  could 
find  any  of  them  so  inclined.  In  conclusion,  it  does  not 
appear  that  laymen  were  tried  or  punished  for  popery,  unless 
publicly  acknowledged  and  practised. 

The  new  faith  wanted  not  antagonists  who  attacked  it 
with  the  weapons  of  Scripture.  Among  these  was  the  be 
fore-mentioned  master  Thore  or  Thorer,  canon  of  Linkop 
ing,  and,  as  is  said,  brother  of  Jons  Magni,  bishop  of  that  see. 
He  was  a  most  able  and  undaunted  man.  He  openly 
declared  himself  opposed  to  the  novelties  introduced  into 
the  church  at  this  time.  But  we  are  not  able  to  decide 
whether  he,  who  was  as  early  as  1537,  considered  to  be 
attached  to  the  old  state  of  things,  was  now  thoroughly  a 
papist,  or  belonged  to  that  not  inconsiderable  party,  who 
approved  of  a  change  in  the  relations  of  the  church,  but 


REFORM ATION   IN    SWEDEN.  319 

A 

were  opposed  to  the  progressive  reform.  In  1544,  master 
Thure  again  incurred  the  king's  displeasure,  by  his  open  op 
position  to  the  new  doctrines,  and  only  the  bishop's  promise 
of  Thure's  silence  for  the  future  averted  serious  consequences. 
Four  years  later,  G.  Norman  and  Claudius  Hvit  attempted^ 
at  Wadsten,  to  convince  and  refute  him.  He  was  now 
sent  to  Stockholm,  together  with  one  Andreas  Haquin,  and 
was  afterward  confined  in  the  prison  of  Gripsholm,  where 
he  was  kept  till  1554,  when,  after  a  disputation  with  M. 
Agricola  and  P.  Juusten,  and  a  consequent  retractation,  he 
was  set  at  liberty,  and  allowed  to  pass  the  remainder  of  his 
days  in  the  cloister  of  Wadsten. 

All  intercourse  with  Rome  was  now  broken  off.  To  the 
church  council,  which,  after  the  Reformation,  was  called 
together  at  Mantua,  in  1537,  and  then  in  1545  at  Trent, 
Sweden  was  not  invited  by  the  pope  and  Cresar.  But  when 
the  council  of  Trent,  after  a  suspension  of  nearly  ten  years, 
was  again  opened  in  1502,  Sweden  had  advanced  into 
greater  importance,  and  better  hopes  for  the  papacy  began 
to  be  entertained  on  the  death  of  king  Gustavus  and  the 
accession  of  his  son  Erik  to  the  throne.  The  papal  ambas 
sador,  Gianfrancesco  Commendone,  who,  in  vain,  made  a 
visit  to  Nuremberg,  where  the  evangelical  Lutheran  estates 
of  Germany  were  assembled,  had  commission  to  treat  with 
the  kings  of  Sweden  and  Denmark,  and  went  to  Lubeck, 
whence  he  solicited  for  letters  of  safe  conduct  to  enter  this 
kingdom.  In  Denmark  he  was  not  received.  But  king 
Erik  answered,  on  August  24th,  15G1,  in  a  letter  which 
was  thought  to  be  of  good  omen  to  the  legate,  because  it 
recognized  him  as  the  pope's  legate,  that  he  willingly  granted 
a  safe  conduct,  which  accompanied  the  letter,  but  that  he 
designed  with  the  first  fair  wind  to  sail  for  England,  and 
that  he  proposed  to  the  legate  to  meet  him  there.  Com 
mendone,  though  mistrustful  of  a  permission  to  enter  Eng 
land,  went  immediately  to  Flanders,  but  at  last  returned  with 


320  HISTORY    OF   THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

* 

his  business  unaccomplished,  having  long  waited  in  vain  for 
Erik,  whose  journey  to  England  was  never  accomplished. 

The  new  direction  the  Reformation  began  to  take,  men 
aced  the  hitherto  existing  constitution.  We  have  seen  how 
in  the  projected  constitution,  from  the  years  1539  and  1540^ 
there  was  no  place  for  bishops,  and  the  reform  in  church 
usages  was,  perhaps,  little  satisfactory  to  some  of  them,  of 
whom  there  was  now  none  that  had  not,  after  1527,  been 
elected  to  his  office.  A  consequence  of  the  altered  relations 
was,  that  many  among  them  16ft  or  desired  to  leave  their 
posts.  Bishop  Jons  Magni  of  Linkoping,  laid  clown  his 
office  in  1543,  dissatisfied  with  the  new  arrangements.  The 
year  following  bishop  Sven  of  Skara  resigned,  having  pre 
viously  obtained  as  his  assistant  Erik  Svenson  Hjort,  for 
merly  the  king's  chaplain,  and  pastor  of  Skelleftea.  In  the 
same  year,  or  in  1545,  Martin  Skytte  of  Abo,  begged  a  dis 
mission,  which  was  granted  by  the  king*  on  the  ground  of 
the  bishop's  great  age,  but  he  continued,  nevertheless,  the 
exercise  of  his  office.  Skytte  is  represented  as  a  man  of 
great  piety,  who  was,  to  a  considerable  degree,  attached  to 
the  old  forms.  He  was  never  married,  and  had  fixed  times 
for  the  distribution  of  alms. 

King  Gustavus  appointed  as  his  ordinariiis  in  Linkoping, 
Claudius  or  Nicholas  Hvit,  a  Dane,  previously  a  Dominican 
monk  of  Skeningc,  and  prior  of  the  cloister  of  Kalmar. 
He  was,  at  the  commencement  of  the  disputes  respecting 
doctrine,  a  zealous  apologist  of  the  old  faith.  He  went  to 
Wittenberg  in  the  hope,  it  is  said,  of  converting  Martin 
Luther,  but  returned  home  himself  converted  into  a  warm 
protcstant.  He  married  a  nun  of  Skcninge,  and  took  care 
of  the  see  of  Linkoping,  at  the  time  his  two  brothers  of 
the  Dominican  order,  M.  Skytte  and  Henrik  of  Westeras, 
yet  held  episcopal  chairs  in  Sweden.  The  see  of  Skara  was 
transferred  to  the  afore-named  Erik  Svensson,  and  after  his 
death,  in  1545,  to  Erik  Falk. 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  321 

There  are  no  evidences  that  these  nominations  were  pre 
ceded  by  an  election,  but  they  appear  to  have  been  made 
immediately  by  the  king.  If  this  was  so,  it  was  the  first 
time  the  ordinary  rulers  of  a  diocese  were  appointed  in  such 
a  manner.  The  thing  is  in  itself  probable,  as  the  chapters 
began  to  be  dissolved,  and  the  king  began  to  convert  the 
right  he  received  from  the  treaty  of  Westerns,  to  have  an 
oversight  of  the  bishops,  into  the  right  of  directly  encroach 
ing  upon  the  relations  of  the  church,  by  virtue  of  his  kingly 
vocation. 

How  far  these  men  were  consecrated  as  bishops,  and  by 
bishops,  in  their  office,  is  not  clear,  though  we  regard  it  as 
probable  that  they  were  so  consecrated,  because  examples 
of  their  consecration  sometimes  occur,  and  because  the 
superintendents  of  Denmark  were  consecrated  at  least  by 
the  German  doctor  Bugenhagen. 

It  is  more  certain,  that  from  this  time  the  king  did  not 
allow  to  these  aforesaid  inspectors  6f  the  diocese  the  name 
of  lishop,  but  constantly  called  them  ordinaries,  inspectors, 
or  superintendents.  Of  these  titles,  the  last-named  was  used 
about  the  year  400,  as  a  Latin  translation  of  the  Greek 
word  episcopos  ;  the  second  was  a  Swedish  translation  of  the 
same  word,  while  the  first  was  employed,  even  by  the  Roman 
church,  as  synonymous  with  the  term  bishop.  They  did  not, 
therefore,  constitute  a  ground  of  objection  to  these  officials 
taking  a  position  which  might  be  regarded  as  churchly,  as 
conformable  to  the  prescription  of  the  church.  By  the 
people  they  were  called  bishops.  But  that  king  Gustavus, 
although  he  does  not  call  them  his  ordinaries,  as  in  1539,  he 
spoke  of  his  bishops,  had  an  eye  to  this  change,  appears 
from  the  circumstance  that,  ?iever,  as  far  as  we  know,  does 
he  apply  to  them  the  name  of  bishop,  and  during  his  whole 
reign  never  ceased  giving  the  name  of  bishop  to  the  inspectors, 
who,  before  1543,  were  elected  by  the  chapter.  He  forbore 
to  address  Lauren tius  Petri  as  archbishop,  and  from  153.9 

14* 


322  HISTORY    OF   THE    ECCLESIASTICAL, 

only  speaks  of  him  as  Bishop  Lars.  He  wished  to  make  ;i 
distinction  between  the  "great  bishops,"  who  claimed  "great 
and  unbecoming  dignity  and  honors,"  and  whose  office  ap 
peared  inefficacious  for  the  true  life  of  the  church,  but  on 
the  contrary,  promotive  of  errors,  and  dangerous  to  the 
peaceful  and  quiet  development  of  the  civil  government ;  and 
those  bishops  who  watched  over  the  discipline  and  condition 
of  the  Swedish  church.  These  last  he  commonly  called 
ordinaries,  and  is  supposed  to  have  had  in  view,  to  let  the 
name  bishop  expire  with  the  men  who  then  held  it,  so  that 
with  the  name  the  abuses  of  the  office  might  fall  into  ob 
livion. 

The  alteration  was  commenced  and  continued  for  any 
length  of  time  only  in  the  diocesses  of  Linkoping  and  Skara. 
The  other  sees  of  Sweden  were  filled  by  elected  bishops,  until 
155G,  when  the  bishop  of  "Westerns  died,  and  the  bishop  of 
Striingness  was  "removed  from  the  exercise  of  his  office. 
These  three  often  consulted  together  on  questions  that  con 
cerned  the  interests  of  the  church,  as  they  did  on  the  Interim 
of  the  emperor  Charles  V.,  and  on  the  third  marriage  of 
king  Gustavus.  In  the  latter  case,  they  gave  an  opinion 
in  contrariety  to  the  king's  wishes.  The  bishops  Skytto  of 
Abo,  and  Jons  of  "Wexio,  too,  took  no  active  part  in  public 
affairs. 

At  the  close  of  the  reign  of  Gustavus,  after  the  occupants 
of  all  the  Swedish  sees  were  changed  in  1550,  the  archbishop 
was  the  only  one  who  still  received  from  the  king  the  name 
of  bishop.  After  the  year  1553,  upon  the  decease  of  bishop 
Jons  Boson,  the  see  of  Wexio  was  held  by  Nicholas  Canati. 
M.  Skytto  died  on  December  30,  1550.  The  see  of 
Abo  then  remained  vacant  till  the  spring  of  1554,  when 
it  was  divided  by  the  king,  so  that  the  soe  of  Abo  proper 
was  given  to  M.  Agricola,  who,  from  15 18,  had  assisted 
Skytte  in  the  management  of  his  office,  and  the  see  of 
Wiborg  or  Borga  was  given  to  P.  Juusten.  Agricola 
deserves  great  commendation  with  respect  to  the  church  of 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  323 

Finland.  lie  translated  and  published  in  the  Finnish 
tongue,  in  1542,  the  New  Testament,  a  large  part  of  the  Old, 
a  manual,  a  mass-book,  the  psalms,  and  other  religious  works.* 
He  died  in  1527,  and  was  succeeded  by  P.  Follingius,  on 
whose  deposition,  P.  Juustcn  was  transferred  from  Wiborg 
to  the  see  of  Abo.  At  the  first  nomination  of  Agricola 
and  Juusten,  the  king  had  called  to  Stockholm  the  men  who 
might  still  he  considered  the  chapter  of  Abo.  It  seems, 
therefore,  that  these  two  bishops  had  passed  through  the 
form,  or  at  least  the  pretence  of  an  election,  so  that  this 
process  could  not  have  wholly  disappeared.  They  were  con 
secrated,  on  the  king's  order,  to  their  office,  by  bishop  Both- 
vid  of  Striingness.  Agricola  very  soon  after  excited,  though 
without  further  consequences,  the  king's  great  displeasure, 
by  having  worn  the  old  episcopal  robes,  when  he  held  his 
first  mass  or  communion  service  in  Abo.  In  1556,  bishop 
Bothvid  of  Strungness  also  incurred  the  royal  disappro 
bation,  and  was  forbidden  to  exercise  his  office,  which, 
however,  he  resumed  in  1561,  after  king  Gustavus'  death. 
Meanwhile,  Erik  Svart  was  ordinarius.  After  the  death  of 
Bothvid,  in  1562,  king  Erik  XIV.  nominated  Nicholaus 
Olai  Helsingus  as  bishop  of  Strangness.  Bishop  Henrik  of 
"Westerns  departed  this  life  in  1550,  and  was  succeeded  by 
Peter  Svart,  after  whose  death,  in  1563,  Johan  Ofeg  became 
bishop.  The  ordinarius  of  .Linkoping  was  transferred,  in 
1558,  to  the  pastoral  care  of  Soderkoping,  and  after  him, 
Erik  Falk,  from  Skara  to  Linkoping.  The  former  post  of 
Falk  was  taken  by  Erik  Hvas,  who  died  in  1560.  After 
him  Erik  Svart,  who  filled  the  place  of  Bothvid  f  bishop  of 
Striingness,  became  bishop  of  Skara. 

*  Martin  Luther  terms  him  "a  youth  of  erudition,  talents,  and  excellent 
character." 

t  This  is  the  bishop,  who,  when  the  king  once,  jestingly,  asked  him  in  what 
chapter  of  the  Bible  bishops  were  permitted  to  live  in  elegant  stone  houses, 
answered,  "In  the  same  chapter  where  kings  are  permitted  to  take  tithes  of 
th^ir  su^Tts." 


324  HISTORY    OF   THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

And  not  only  by  taking  away  the  name  of  bishop,  but  by 
dividing  dhccscs/  the  king  desired  to  lessen  the  hierarchical 
influence  he  so  much  watched  and  feared.  There*  was 
another  reason  for  dividing  them,  which,  in  1557,  was  given 
by  the  king  himself,  that,  although  the  pure  word  of  God 
had  now  a  free  course  in  his  kingdom,  there  was  yet  the 
defect,  that  the  priests  were  not  sufficiently  active  in  their 
vocation.  The  bishops  and  ordinaries  could  not  exercise 
over  them  a  proper  supervision,  because  the  dioceses  were 
too  large.  lie  determined,  therefore,  to  divide  them.  A 
beginning  was  made,  in  1554,  with  the  diocese  of  Abo. 
From  that  time  matters  went  on  actively,  so  that  at  the  close 
of  Gustavus  I.'s  reign,  and  under  that  of  Erik  XIV.,  there 
were  several  ordinaries  in  Stockholm  for  that  city,  in  Gefle 
for  Norland,  in  Kalmar  for  East  Smaland  and  Oeland,  in 
Jonkoping  for  North  Smaland,  in  Orebro  for  Nerike,  and 
in  Tuna  for  Dalecarlia.  All  the  sees  were  thus  divided, 
with  the  exception  of  Skara,  and  the  previously  diminished 
diocese  of  Wcxio,  which  on  the  contrary,  in  1555,  was 
augmented  by  the  districts  of  Sunnerbo,  Eastbo,  and  "Westbo. 
The  pastors  or  rectors  of  the  above-named  headquarters 
were  the  ordinaries  of  the  new  divisions.  The  ordinary  of 
Kalmar  was  put  in  , subjection  to  the  ordinary  of  Linkop- 
ing,  and  was  thus  merely  his  assistant.  We  suppose  that 
this  dependence  appertained  to  the  other  new  ordinaries  also, 
as  it  is  not  known  that  they  were  consecrated  to  their 
office,  and  as,  soon  after  king  Erik's  accession  to  the  throne, 
a  distinction  was  made  between  bishops  or  the  old  occupants 
of  the  old  dioceses,  and  the  ordinarii  or  occupants  of  the  new 
divisions.  A  letter  from  the  king  was  issued  to  the  "  bishops 
and  ordinaries,"  and  in  155G,  some  of  these  ordinaries 
began  to  write  themselves  "pastores,"  pastors.  At  the 
commencement  of  John  in.'s  reign,  this  distinction  presents 
itself  as  settled.  The  occupants  of  the  old  sees  call  them 
selves  bishops ;  those  of  Gefle,  Tuna,  Orebro,  and  Jonkoping, 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  325 

ordinaries.  This  took  place  in  15 G9,  after  which  these 
ordinarii  are  met  with  no  more. 

Prelates  and  canons  appeared  to  the  first  reformers  as 
offices  that  might  be  dispensed  with — still  less  could  they  be 
tolerated  in  the  discipline  of  the  church  after  the  year  1540. 
The  king  accounted  them  with  the  powerful  bishops  as  a 
papistical  party,  and  about  the  year  1540  the  dissolution 
of  the  old  chapters  was,  for  the  most  part,  effected.  In 
1527  the  king,  exceeding  the  express  grant  of  the  treaty  of 
Westeras,  not  only  settled  the  incomes  of  the  canons,  but 
how  many  canons  and  prebends  there  should  be  in  each 
cathedral.  At  a  later  period,  he  stopped  not  at  this  dimin 
ished  number,  but  suppressed  more  canonries  and  prebends 
as  vacancies  occurred. 

But  there  was  also  made,  in  1544,  an  important  change 
in  the  incomes  of  bishops,  canons,  and  prebends.  They 
had  hitherto  received  these  incomes  in  the  manner  usual 
before  the  year  1527,  and  given  to  the  crown  the  settled 
annual  impost.  The  king  had  already,  in  1540,  appointed 
a  country  steward  over  the  tenants  attached  to  the  sees  and 
canonries  of  Skara,  and  directed  bishop  Sven  to  leave  the 
management  of  these  tenants  to  this  steward.  When  the 
king,  in  1542,  called  in  the  ground-rent  books,  and  an  ac 
curate  list  of  the  taxes  on  incomes,  he  is  thought  to  have 
announced  his  intention  of  a  change.  This  change  began 
in  1544,  when  the  ordinarius,  canon,  and  korpriest  of  Lin- 
koping,  petitioned  that  they,  who  neither  could  govern  their 
tenants  nor  obtain  of  them  their  dues,  might  be  allowed  to 
transfer  those  dues  to  the  crown  in  exchange  for  a  certain 
yearly  income.  This  application  was  well  received,  and 
they  obtained  an  assessment  on  the  tithes  previously  assigned 
to  the  crown.  The  same  request  was  made,  the  year  fol 
lowing,  by  the  bishops,  chapters,  and  prebends  of  Striing- 
ness  and  Westeras,  and  it  was  granted  on  similar  terms. 
The  new  arrangement  was  introduced  at  the  same  time 


326  HISTORY    OP    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

\vitliin  all  the  dioceses  of  the  kingdom.  This,  in  connection 
with  the  power  of  the  king  to  appoint  to  the  office,  im 
ported  a  complete  and  significant  alteration  in  the  mode  of 
paying  salaries,  especially  when  it  is  considered,  that  in  ex 
change  for  the  church  goods  they  yielded  up,  they  took  a 
compensation  out  of  revenues  that  were  regarded  as  belong 
ing  to  the  crown. 

This  reduction,  metamorphosis,  or  change,  which  was  not 
at  all  contemplated  at  the  diet  of  Westerns,  in  1527,  was  ex 
tended  also  to  the  goods  and  farms  of  churches,  and  the 
priests  attached  to  churches.  The  king  began,  in  1545,  to 
negotiate  with  the  priests,  to  yield  up  their  farms  for  a  rea 
sonable  compensation.  During  the  two  succeeding  years, 
this  exchange  was  effected  over  the  whole  kingdom.  The 
tenants  of  the  priests  became  crown  tenants,  and  the  priests 
gained  a  compensation  in  tithes  and  other  reserved  things, 
and  retained  beside,  without  being  obliged  to  provide  enter 
tainment  for  travellers,  the  farms  that  were  annexed  to  their 
chapels  of  case.  Even  the  tenants  attached  to  the  churches 
were  transferred  to  the  crown.  Nothing  was  said  of  a  com 
pensation  for  these.  The  change  awakened  dissatisfaction 
in  the  land,  so  that  the  king  found  himself  under  the  neces 
sity  of  offering  an  excuse.  The  excuse  was,  the  protec 
tion  needed  for  these  tenants,  and  the  wretched  care  taken 
of  the  farms.  Many  priests  as  well  as  tenants  had  made  the 
request. 

In  another  respect  also,  a  change  of  great  importance  and 
influence  was  made  in  the  position  of  the  pastors  or  rectors 
of  churches.  Bishops,  prelates,  and  canons,  especially  the 
first,  were  regarded,  according  to  the  old  hierarchical  view, 
as  the  only  representatives  of  the  church.  The  parish 
priests  represented  the  .bishops,  in  the  care  of  their  congre 
gations,  and  a  large  part  of  the  more  influential  priests  were 
connected  with  the  prelacies  and  canonrics  of  cathedrals. 
The  suffrage  of  the  church,  therefore,  in  the  affairs  of  the 


REFORMATION   IN    SWEDEN.  327 

civil  government,  could  only  be  given  by  these  independent 
sponsors.  The  new  -views  occasioned  the  diminution  of  the 
importance  of  bishops,  and  a  dissolution  of  the  chapters  ;  a 
consequence  of  which  was,  that  these  could  not,  with  the 
same  reason  as  before,  represent  the  voice  of  the  parish 
priests.  As  the  pastors  of  churches  were  summoned  to  the 
first  protestant  council  of  1529,  it  was  reasonably  to  be  ex 
pected  they  should  participate  on  behalf  of  the  church,  in 
the  councils  of  the  kingdom,  by  their  suffrages.  And  thus 
it  occurred  almost  simultaneously  with  the  above-mentioned 
alterations.  The  pastors  of  churches  appeared  for  the  first 
time  as  diet  representatives,  in  1547,  at  the  diet  of  Striing- 
ness.  This  diet  was  sanctioned,  and  its  acts  approved  by 
the  bishops  of  Upsala,  Strangness,  and  Westerns,  by  the 
chapters  or  their  representatives,  and  by  "  some  independent 
persons,  fronnnll  the  clergy  of  these  three  dioceses."  This 
change  was  not  established  by  law,  was  sometimes  neglected 
or  disregarded  by  king  Erik  XIV.,  but  was  observed  with 
great  strictness  from  the  time  of  John  HI. 


328  HISTORY    OF   THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 


CHAPTER    IX. 

THE  REFORMATION  IN  DENMARK  AND  NORWAY.— THE  POSITION  OP 
THE  SWEDISH  CHURCH  IN  RESPECT  TO  THE  FOREIGN  PROTESTANT 
CHURCHES. 

WE  have  given  an  account  of  two  very  remarkable  peri 
ods  in  the  history  of  the  reformation  of  the  Swedish  church. 
The  one  period  extends  from  the  diet  of  Westerns,  in  1527, 
to  the  council  held  in  1539.  During  this  period  the  chan 
ges  were  made  on  the  ground  of  the  treaty  ancl  ordinantia  of 
"Westerns.  The  reformation  was  chiefly  a  reduction  of  the 
riches  of  the  church,  a  lessening  of  the  number  of  its  officers, 
the  diffusion  of  the  knowledge  and  preaching  of  the  word  of 
God  over  the  land,  and  a  decadence  of  conventual  establish 
ments,  both  in  wealth  and  the  number  of  those  who  made 
vows  within  their  walls.  The  second  period,  from  1539, 
during  which  king  Gustavus  carried  on  the  reformation  of 
the  church  as  a  kingly  rigid,  and  went  beyond  the  treaty  and 
ordinantia  of  Westeras,  may  with  propriety  be  said  to  close 
at  the  year  1544.  But  the  incidents  that  then  occurred, 
though  vacillating  under  the  reigns  of  Gustavus  I.  and 
Erik  XIV.,  between  the  royal  claims  and  the  independence 
of  the  church  and  estates  of  the  kingdom,  extend  their  influ 
ence  much  further. 

The  most  important  changes  in  king  Gustavus'  time,  ex 
cept  the  division  of  dioceses,  were  completed  in  1546  and 
1547,  at  which  period  the  protestant  estates  of  Germany  lay 
vanquished  at  the  feet  of  the  Caesar,  Charles  V.,  and  the 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  329 

Danish  reformation  was  accomplished.  It  may  throw  light 
upon  the  picture  of  the  transactions  of  the  Swedish  church, 
to  cast  a  glance  upon  the  other  kingdoms  of  the  Scandina 
vians. 

King  Christian  II.,  who,  during  his  short  dominion  with 
in  Sweden,  chiefly  appears  as  a  bloody  avenger  of  the 
wrongs  of  the  papal  church,  and  by  his  outrages  irremedia 
bly  injured  the  church's  cause,  now  steps  forth  in  the  his 
tory  of  Denmark,  as  a  zealot  for  the  principles  of  the  Refor 
mation.  During  his  attempts  to  bend  and  subdue  the  hier 
archy,  the  teachers  who  came  over  from  Wittenberg  must 
have  been  welcome  to  him ;  and  he  was  so  much  the  more 
induced  to  notice  them,  as  it  was  well  known  that  his  uncle 
by  the  mother's  side,  Frederick,  elector  of  Saxony,  was  Lu 
ther's  friend  and  protector. 

Many  of  the  king's  Danish  subjects,  among  whom  was  the 
before  mentioned  Paul  Elieson,  hailed  with  joy  and  hope 
the  movement,  when,  in  1519,  the  king  wrote  to  the  elector 
to  send  him  a  teacher  from  Wittenberg,  to  spread  the  prin 
ciples  of  the  Reformation.  A  certain  master  Martin  Ixein- 
hard  came,  and  was  installed  in  the  university  of  Kopenham, 
and  made  preacher  of  the  church  of  St.  Nicholas.  Plis 
labors  were  short  lived  and  of  little  fruit  in  Denmark.  As 
he  could  not  speak  Danish,  Paul  Elieson  was  employed  to 
interpret  what  he  delivered  ;  but  as  the  latter  soon  went  back 
to  Germany,  he  could  no  longer  communicate  his  opinions 
to  those  among  the  people  who  did  not  understand  the  Ger 
man  speech.  His  gesture  and  pronunciation  also  made  him 
ridiculous.  lie  returned  in  February,  1521,  accompanied 
by  one  of  the  king's  German  secretaries,  both  being  fur 
nished  with  a  commission  to  induce  Martin  Luther  to  take 
refuge  in  Denmark,  as  his  freedom  and  life  were  now  endan 
gered  by  the  approaching  diet  of  Worms.  The  same  offer 
was  made  to  Carolstad  and  others.  The  king  had  also  for 
bidden  the  university  of  Kopenham  to  write  against  Luther. 


330  HISTORY    OF   THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

The  elector,  Frederick,  to  whom  the  overture  respecting  Lu 
ther's  coming  to  Denmark  was  delivered,  refused  his  consent, 
but  Carolstadt  and  a  master  Gabler  came  there  in  the  former 
part  of  the  year  1521,  though  they  soon  returned,  for  what 
reason  is  not  known. 

In  the  statutes  framed  by  the  king  in  1521,  for  Denmark, 
and  in  those  laws  which  he  the  next  year  promulgated  as 
modifications  of  those  statutes,  there  were  many  particulars, 
which,  after  he  lost  his  crown,  became,  from  the  year  1527, 
current  law,  or  silently  admitted  as  law,  in  portions  both  of 
Sweden  and  Denmark.  Every  bishop  shall,  say  the  stat 
utes,  on  all  high  festivals,  himself  perform  high  mass,  and 
shall  go  into  the  pulpit  and  preach  the  gospel,  and  instruct 
the  people  relative  to  the  salvation  of  their  souls.  On  the 
downfall  of  the  bishops  this  duty  was  enjoined  upon  the  chief 
prelates.  The  bishop  must  not  commit  the  care  of  souls  to 
any  priest  who  could  not  preach  God's  word  to  the  people 
of  the  parish.  To  the  bishops  was  prescribed  the  dress  in 
which  they  were  to  appear  before  the  king,  and  the  train 
with  which  prelates  and  abbots  might  travel.  The  arch 
bishop  is  allowed  to  have  twenty  attendants,  the  other 
bishops  twelve  or  fourteen.  No  prelate,  priest,  or  clerk,  is 
allowed  to  buy  real  estate,  unless  he  wishes  to  live  in  mar 
riage,  according  to  the  doctrine  of  St.  Paul,  3  Tim.  iii., 
as  their  forefathers  did.  This  point  in  the  statutes  was 
altered  in  the  law  to  a  simple  prohibition  of  buying  real  es 
tate.  The  laws  promulgated,  also  contain  the  following  or 
dinances  :  Spiritual  persons  or  ecclesiastics,  must  not  seek 
justice  out  of  the  kingdom,  "in  Rome  or  elsewhere,"  but  in 
the  king's  court  of  chancery,  in  which  doctors  and  masters 
should  be  appointed  to  give  a  final  decision  in  spiritual 
causes.  The  spiritual  court  was  not  to  meddle  with  any 
causes  which  were  brought  before  the  common  courts  of  the 
land.  Marriage,  however,  might  be  treated  in  the  spiritual 
court.  For'  money  dues  no  one  should  be  excluded  from  the 


REFORMATION    IX    SWEDEX.  331 

sacrament.  As  it  would  be  unjust  in  a  bishop  to  take  all 
the  inheritance  of  a  priest  dying  without  a  will,  the  law  pro 
vided,  that  the  heir  should  have  three  parts,  and  the  fourth 
was  to  be  appropriated  to  masses  for  souls,  and  to  alms. 
The  bishop  was  to  receive  from  the  family  of  the  deceased, 
"  the  best  jewels  and  valuables."  The  gardens  and  arable 
lots  which  the  priests  had  not  themselves  cultivated,  were  to 
be  transferred  at  a  fixed  rent  to  the  new  owners.  The 
monks  of  cloisters  that  had  rents,  were  forbidden  to  beg. 
Gold,  silver,  or  money,  but  not  real  estate,  might  be  given 
to  churches  or  cloisters. 

The  force  of  circumstances,  and  probably  his  own  unsta 
ble  temper,  soon  checked  king  Christian's  zeal  for  reforma 
tion.  He  had  not  broken  off  connection  with  the  pope, 
whose  will  he  pretended  to  execute  in  his  bloody  deeds 
in  Sweden,  whose  displeasure  with  many  despotic  encroach 
ments  on  the  privileges  of  the  church  he  wished  to  soothe, 
and  whose  assent  to  the  elevation  of  his  favorites  to  the  sees 
of  Sweden  and  Denmark,  he  desired  to  obtain.  Many 
agents  were  sent  to  Rome,  especially  after  Johannes  Magni 
went  there  as  his  complainant,  but  he  could  not  avert  the 
pope's  determination,  by  his  own  legate  John  F.  de  Poten- 
tia,  sent  to  Kopcnham,  to  institute  an  investigation  into  the 
massacre  of  Stockholm.  Of  this  investigation  and  its  con 
sequences  we  have  already  treated. 

Soon  after  broke  out  the  rebellion,  which,  excited  by  the 
indignation  felt  at  his  outrages,  and  still  further  strengthen 
ed  by  his  pusillanimity,  induced  him,  in  1523,  to  abandon 
both  the  kingdoms  which  yet^rcmained  to  him.  The  insur 
rectionists  of  Denmark  brought  against  him  complaints 
similar  to  those  which,  at  a  later  period,  were  brought 
against  king  Gustavus  I.,  by  the  Dalccarlians  of  Sweden. 
They  complained  of  the  burdens  he  had  laid  on  the  property 
and  persons  of  the  church  ;  that  mass  and  public  worship 
were  unattended  ;  that  heretics,  who  had  fallen  from  the 


332  HISTORY    OF    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

Christian  faith,  were  allowed  to  allure  others  from  this 
faith,  "  with  their  Lutheran  devices  and  knavery  ;"  that  in 
the  three  kingdoms  there  was  no  archbishop,  and  that  many 
dioceses  wanted  bishops. 

King  Frederick,  Christian's  uncle  by  the  father's  side, 
was  already  pledged  to  the  Reformation,  when  he  received 
the  offer  of  the  crown  of  Denmark.  At  the  time  of  his  ac 
cession  he  took  on  him  the  usual  obligations.  But  the 
growth  of  the  seed  sown,  he  neither  wished  nor  was  able  to 
prevent.  The  friends  of  the  new  principles  followed  up 
their  work  with  still  greater  energy,  from  the  year  1524,  at 
which  time  Olaus  Petri  began  his  career  at  Stockholm. 
Hans  Tausen,  from  this  period  the  foremost  among  the 
Danish  reformers,  a  priest  of  the  order  of  St.  John,  was 
born  in  1494,  at  Antwerp,  in  Zealand.  He  had  been  sent 
to  the  universities  of  Coin  and  Louvain,  but  by  reading  the 
writings  of  Luther,  was  drawn  to  Wittenberg.  Returning 
to  Antwerp  in  1524,  or  the  year  after,  he  began  to  spread 
the  doctrines  of  the  Information.  Sent  thence  to  the  house 
of  his  order  at  Viborg,  in  Jutland,  he  sowed  there  also  the 
seeds  of  truth.  In  1524,  king  Frederick  began  to  reform 
the  church  in  his  dukedom  of  Sleswick  and  Holstein.  Den 
mark  having  now  no  consecrated  archbishop,  he  was  crown 
ed  that  year  at  Ivopenham,  by  the  fugitive  Gustav  Trollc, 
but  at  the  same  time  allowed  a  priest  to  perform  divine  ser 
vice  before  him,  after  the  evangelical  pattern.  It  was  to  no 
purpose  that  the  bishops  now  resolved  with  greater  zeal  to 
check  the  Lutheran  heresy,  to  imprison  or  in  some  other 
way  punish  its  adherents,  to  forbid  thenceforward,  the  in 
troduction  of  dangerous  ancf  bad  books,  and  allow  of  no 
changes,  until  the  general  council,  which  was  soon  to  be 
called  together  by  Clement  VII.,  should  put  an  end  to  con 
troversies.  The  king  permitted  the  friends  of  reforma 
tion  to  preach  their  doctrines,  but  no  violence  to  be  com 
mitted  against  the  established  order.  Only  by  degrees,  as 


REFORMATION   IN    SWEDEN.  333 

he  felt  his  crown  more  securely  settled  on  his  head,  did  he 
discover  his  real  principles  and  views.  In  1525,  he  con 
firmed  the  election  of  John  Rcfts,  as  bishop  of  Opslo,  but 
forbade  him  to  seek  confirmation  at  Rome.  The  year  after, 
he  confirmed,  on  payment  of  the  usual  dues  to  the  crown  in 
stead  of  the  pope's  treasury,  Ake  Sparre,  elected  by  the 
chapter  as  archbishop  of  Lund,  although  the  pope  had  caused 
George  Skotborg  to  be  consecrated  for  that  see. 

It  was  to  be  expected,  that  in  the  kingdom  of  Denmark, 
as  it  then  Avas,  the  city  of  Lund  should  be  the  corner-stone 
of  the  old  church,  the  powerful  centre  of  the  archiepiscopate 
and  of  the  rich  chapter.  Malmo  held  this  relation,  especially 
after  the  year  1527,  to  the  Reformation,  its  citadel  and  cen 
tre  for  all  eastern  Denmark.  The  burgomaster,  Hans 
Mikkelsson,  now  a  Nethcrland  merchantman,  whose  trans 
lation  of  the  NCAV  Testament  was  spread  over  Denmark, 
was  not  the  only  person  who,  after  leaving  the  land,  desired 
and  endeavored  to  procure  for  the  truth  a  free  circulation. 
PI  is  successor,  Jorgen  Kock,  put  into  office  by  king  Chris 
tian  before  his  departure,  patronized  the  teachers  of  the  new 
doctrine.  The  principal  of  these  was  Klas  Martensson 
Tunnbindarc,  a  priest  of  Malmo,  whom  even  his  enemies, 
while  they  accused  him  of  ignorance  and  ambition,  acknow 
ledged  to  be  a  man  of  uncommon  eloquence.  After  being 
ordained  a  priest  of  the  archdiocese  of  Lund,  he  had  come 
to  Kopenham  to  pursue  his  studies,  and  there  becoming  ac 
quainted  with  the  doctrines  of  the  reformers,  began  openly 
to  propagate  them.  When  the  bishop  of  Roskild.  Lage  Urne, 
forbade  him  to  preach  there  any  more,  he  was  invited  to 
Malmo  by  the  burgomaster,  Jorgen  Kock,  by  whose  permis 
sion  he  preached  in  a  chapel  belonging  to  one  of  the  coun 
cil,  and  situated  in  a  meadow  outside  the  city.  At  the  re 
quest  of  the  citizens,  a  chapel  was  opened  for  him  within 
the  city,  and  when  this  did  not  hold  the  hearers,  the  king's 
permission  was  obtained  to  use  the  church  of  Sts.  Simeon 


334  HISTORY   OF   THE   ECCLESIASTICAL 

and  Jude,  where  Danish  psalms  might  be  sung,  and  the 
mass  performed  in  Danish.  At  length  the  pastor  of  St. 
Peter's  church  permitted  Klas  to  have  preaching  there  in 
the  afternoon.  He  seems,  as  yet,  to  have  cautiously  ex 
pressed  his  views,  yet  so  openly,  that  in  1527  the  archbishop 
banished  him  from  Malmo. 

The  cause  of  the  Reformation  had  now  become  firmly 
rooted  in  Denmark.  King  Frederick  therefore  determined, 
that  at  the  diet  of  Odense,  which  was  opened  August  1, 
1527,  some  weeks  later  than  the  Swedish  diet  of  Westeras, 
liberty  for  its  free  promulgation  should  be  obtained.  In  a 
speech  to  the  bishops,  at  the  opening  of  the  diet,  he  admon 
ished  them  to  provide  for  the  preaching  of  the  gospel  better 
than  had  hitherto  been  done.  The  old  unbelief  was  abol 
ished  in  Germany  through  Luther,  and  even  elsewhere  the 
cheats  of  papacy  were  exposed  to  mankind.  In_  Denmark, 
too,  there  was  a  general  complaint  that  the  priests,  instead 
of  the  pure  and  unadulterated  word  of  God,  propounded  to 
the  people  human  fables,  traditions  the  most  absurd,  le- 
gfcnds  and  false  miracles.  The  king  had,  indeed,  promised 
to  protect  the  Roman  and  Catholic  religion,  but  had  not 
thereby  bound  himself  to  defend  the  fables  and  errors  which 
had  found  entrance  into  the  church,  and  Avcre  inconsistent 
with  the  word  of  God.  He  had  promised  to  defend  the 
order  of  bishops.  This  he  would  do.  But,  since,  in  this 
kingdom,  the  Christian  doctrine,  according  to  the  reform  of 
Luther,  had  taken  deep  root,  so  that  it  could  not  be  sup 
pressed  without  bloodshed  and  great  danger  to  the  kingdom 
and  people,  it  was  his  royal  pleasure  that,  until  a  general 
council  could  be  convened,  both  religions,  the  Lutheran  and 
the  popish,  should  be  tolerated. 

Notwithstanding  all  opposition  from  the  spiritual,  and 
from  some  among  the  temporal  lords,  a  decree  was  passed  in 
accordance  with  the  king's  speech.  Bishops,  prelates,  and 
cloisters,  were  to  retain  the  goods  and  property  they  pos- 


REFORMATION   IN    SWEDEN.  385 

sessed,  according  to  the  law  of  the  land,  and  the  tithes  were 
secured  to  them  ;  but  the  people  were  to  be  free  from  taxes 
to  the  bishop  for  weddings,  the  churching  of  women,  and 
the  like.  The  church  was  to  retain  its  jurisdiction,  except 
that  in  causes  regarding  real  estate,  the  pleas  should  be  made 
before  the  temporal  court.  The  crown,  nobles,  and  learned 
men,  were  to  have  cognizance  of  the  fines  and  suits  of  their 
own  tenants  and  servants,  except  such  as  concerned  murder, 
and  breach  of  the  church's  peace,  which  were  to  belong  to 
the  church.  Every  man  should  enjoy  liberty  of  conscience, 
so  that  none  should  call  his  neighbor  to  account  because  he 
was  a  Lutheran  or  a  Catholic.  Every  man  should  have  the 
care  of  his  own  soul.  The  king  took  Lutherans  and  Catho 
lics  alike  under  his  protection.  For  some  centuries,  the 
oificers  of  the  church,  canons,  monks,  and  all  sorts  of  spirit 
ual  persons,  were  forbidden  to  many ;  every  man  might  now, 
as  he  pleased,  marry,  or  live  singly  in-  a  pure  life.  Bishops 
were  not  to  seek  the  pallium  at  Rome,  but  ask  confirma 
tion  of  the  king,  after  being  lawfully  elected  by  the  chapter. 
It  may  easily  be  seen,  how  unlike  was  this  project  of  re 
form  in  Denmark,  to  that  which  simultaneously  took  place 
in  Sweden.  In  Sweden  a  commencement  was  made  by 
lessening  the  power  of  the  bishops,  with  the  wealth  of  the 
church  and  her  right  of  pronouncing  judgment ;  all  which 
was  preserved  in  Denmark.  The  opposite  opinions  were 
presented  in  the  light  of  opposite  church  parties,  while  in 
Sweden  it  was  conceived  that  there  could  be  but  one  truth, 
founded  on  the  word  of  God,  and  by  its  preaching  the  way 
was  opened  to  its  general  examination.  No  distinction, 
therefore,  was  recognized  between  Lutherans  and  Catholics, 
and  it  was  not  a  question  what  Martin  Luther  said  or  did 
not  say,  but  what  the  Scriptures  said.  The  questions  con 
cerning  the  marriage  of  priests,  and  the  relations  of  the 
church  to  the  pope,  were  in  Sweden  passed  by  in  silence,  as 
already  determined  by  the  gospel,  or  as  to  be  so  determined. 


336  HISTORY  OF  THE  ECCLESIASTICAL 

The  freedom  granted  the  Lutherans  by  the  decree  of  the 
diet  of  Odense,  provoked  an  open  opposition  on  the  part  of 
the  old  church.  Many  monks  and  nuns  left  their  cloisters  ; 
many  of  them  married.  The  marriage  of  priests,  which  had 
commenced  before  1527,  now  became  more  common.  Klas 
Tunnbindare  returned  to  Malmo,  in  1528,  with  Hans  Span- 
demager,  who,  with  the  other,  had  been  obliged  to  leave 
that  city.  It  was  now  proclaimed  that  from  the  time  of  the 
apostles,  no  true  Christianity  had  been  preached ;  that  no 
true  Christian  was  found,  except  among  those  whom  the 
church  declared  to  be  heretics  ;  that  the  pope  was  antichrist ; 
that  good  wrorks  were  more  harmful  than  beneficial,  since 
they  gave  occasion  to  self-righteousness  and  hypocrisy.  Fasts 
and  vows  were  disapproved,  mass  was  abolished,  ornaments 
were  removed  from  churches,  and  the  holy  supper  of  the 
Lord  was  administered  not  at  the  high  altar,  but  at  a  table 
placed  in  the  church.  The  pastor  was  removed,  and  Kins 
Martensson  put  in  his  place.  The  war  against  Catholics 
was  lively  and  active.  Klas  once  entered  the  pulpit  of  the 
Franciscan  church,  during  afternoon  service,  and  preached 
against  monks.  One  of  these  stepped  into  the  pulpit  after 
him  to  refute  him  ;  and  so  they  alternated  several  times  that 
afternoon.  In  vain  the  archbishop  of  Lund,  Ake  Sparrc, 
who,  being  neither  confirmed  nor  consecrated  by  the  pope, 
wanted  full  official  powers,  summoned  the  reformers  before 
him.  The  summons  was  not  obeyed.  In  vain  he  betook 
himself  to  Malmo.  His  threats  and  admonitions  were  with 
out  effect.  Frans  Wormorsen,  a  Carmelite  monk,  born  in 
Holland,  who,  on  a  promise  given  to  aid  in  suppressing  the 
tumults,  obtained  the  archbishop's  permission  to  preach  in 
Malmo,  proclaimed  there  the  doctrines  of  the  Reformation. 
In  1529,  the  Reformation  had  been  fully  established  in 
Malmo.  In  many  other  towns  of  Denmark,  in  Landskrona, 
Ystad,  Trelleborg,  the  gospel  was  preached.  Only  Lund 
still  continued  in  opposition.  Ascer  Peterson,  a  cantor  of 


INFORMATION   IN    SWEDEN.  337 

its  church,  distinguished  himself  among  the  most  zealous  ad 
vocates  of  the  Roman  church,  and  with  him  was  associated 
one  Peter  Ivarsson. 

In  1529,  "VVormorsen  translated  the  psalms  into  Danish, 
and  in  the  same  year  appeared  a  translation  of  both4he  psalms 
and  New  Testament,  by  the  learned  and  pious  Kristen  Pet- 
terson,  canon  of  Lund,  who,  even  before  the  Reformation, 
was  known  as  an  author.  He  had  accompanied  king 
Christian  abroad,  but  returned  attached  to  the  cause  of  the 
Reformation,  and  died  a  rural  priest.  In  1528,  his  works, 
for  and  against  the  new  doctrines,  began  to  be  published. 
The  opposition  made  in  Lund  against  church  reform,  com 
bined  with  the  equality  of  Lutherans,  and  Catholics  in  the 
church,  produced,  in  1529,  a  resolve  to  establish,  at  Malmo, 
fin  institution  for  training  the  confessors  and  priests  of  the 
Lutheran  form  of  faith.  The  king  approved  the  application 
made  him,  and  transferred  to  this  object  and  the  support  of 
an  hospital,  the  property  of  certain  lapsed  ecclesiastical  es 
tablishments  in  the  city.  This  institution  of  learning  for 
Lutherans  went  immediately  into  operation,  under  the  au 
spices  of  Klas  Martensson,  Worrnorson,  and  others.  In 
1530,  when  the  Catholics  were  in  expectation  that  their  op 
ponents  would  be  crushed  in  Germany  by  the  measures 
adopted  at  the  diet  of  Augsburg,  the  bishops  of  Denmark 
requested  that  the  protestant  teachers  of  their  own  country 
might  be  summoned  to  a  diet  at  Kopenham,  where  controver 
sies  of  faith  should  be  examined  and  discussed.  Two  German 
theologians  were  invited  from  Coin  to  defend  the  papal  ten 
ets.  The  protestants  appeared  in  great  numbers,  and  unex 
pectedly  set  forth,  after  a  lapse  of  eight  days,  a  confession 
of  faith,  containing  forty-three  articles,  upon  distinct  por 
tions  of  which  they  daily  preached,  until  they  were  forbid 
den  by  the  king.  A  refutation  by  the  papal  party,  in 
twenty-seven  articles,  was  again  refuted  in  the  like  number 
of  articles,  with  the  addition  of  twelve,  energetically  remon- 

15 


338  IIISTOKY    OF    THE   ECCLESIASTICAL 

strating  against  the  mismanagement  of  the  office  of  bishops. 
The  public  disputation  did  not  take  place,  and  the  diet  only 
conduced  to  the  advancement  of  the  protestant  cause. 

It  advanced  from  this  period  with  rapid  strides.  At  Ko- 
pcnham,  on  July  3,  1530,  the  church,  called  that  of  Our 
Lady,  was  stormed,  and  the  ornaments  destroyed.  A  large 
number  of  cloisters,  especially  those  of  the  begging  monks, 
were,  in  1530  and  1531,  wholly  demolished,  as  was  also  the 
case  in  Gothland  and  other  parts  of  Scania.  In  many 
quarters,  as  in  Halinstad  and  Ystad,  the  monks  were  driv 
en  away  with  violence.  Their  property  was  transferred  to 
hospitals,  or  confiscated  to  the  state,  or  given  away  in  fief. 

After  the  death  of  king  Frederick,  in  1533,  the  hierarchy 
endeavored  to  recover  their  power,  or  at  least  secure  what 
was  not  yet  lost,  by  means  of  the  resolutions  passed  at  the 
diet  of  Kopenham.  But  the  war  of  the  Palatinate,  which 
soon  after  broke  out,  left  everything  unsettled,  until  Chris 
tian  III.,  in  1536,  was  generally  acknowledged  as  king  of 
the  land.  Christian  was  a  zealous  protestant,  and  had 
already  resolved  on  the  downfall  of  the  hierarchy.  A  visit 
which  he  paid,  in  the  autumn  of  1535,  at  Stockholm,  to  king 
Gustavus  L,  may  have  greatly  contributed  to  this  resolve.  On 
August  12,  1536,  the  king  framed,  with  the  council  of  the 
kingdom,  a  decree,  that  all  spiritual  and  temporal  power 
should  be  taken  from  the  bishops,  and  that  their  property 
should  be  transferred  to  the  crown.  The  council  pledged 
itself  to  the  evangelical  doctrine,  and  promised  to  stake 
wealth  and  life  for  the  weal  of  the  church  and  fatherland. 
It  was  also  resolved  to  imprison  the  bishops,  that  they  might 
be  disabled  from  opposing  effectually  the  projected  changes. 
The  bishops  then  present  in  Kopenham  were  immediately 
imprisoned.  A  diet,  to  which  were  summoned  the  nobles, 
burghers,  and  farmers,  was  held  in  October  of  that  year. 
On  the  thirtieth  of  the  month,  complaints  were  laid  before 
the  estates,  by  the  king  against  the  bishops,  whose  acts  were 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  339 

minutely  criticised.  They  had  been  the  cause  of  long  con 
tinued  and  bloody  contests,  had  set  themselves  against  an 
emendation  of  the  church,  and  persecuted  the  evangelical 
teachers.  He  proposed  that  the  rank  and  dignity  of 
bishops  should  be  abolished,  and  their  property  be  trans 
ferred  to  the  crown,  to  pay  its  debt  and  lessen  the  bur 
dens  of  the  people,  that  the  pure  evangelical  doctrine 
should  be  introduced,  that  superintendents  without  worldly 
power  should  have  the  management  of  the  church,  that 
tithes  and  other  church  property  should  be  converted  to  the 
use  of  learned  men,  universities,  schools,  and  pious  estab 
lishments.  The  estates  replied,  that  they  did  not  wish  to 
have  bishops,  except  in  connection  with  the  holy  gospel,  and 
that  the  goods  of  the  church  ought  to  be  converted  to  less 
ening  the  burdens  of  the  people. 

Thus,  within  ten  years,  was  religious  freedom  confirmed 
to  both  parties,  and  the  papal  church  overturned.  The 
bishops  were  released,  but  not  restored  to  office,  and  they 
took  an  oath  of  submission  and  quiet  demeanor.  The 
archbishopric  of  Lund  ceased  from  this  time,  having  exist 
ed  from  its  establishment  four  hundred  and  thirty-three 
years.  The  last  possessor  of  the  office  and  name,  Thorbern 
Bilcle,  who  was  raised  to  that  dignity  in  1532,  on  Alee 
Sparre's  voluntary  resignation,  was  permitted,  till  his  death 
in  1533,  to  enjoy  the  incomes  of  the  deanery  of  Lund,  and 
of  the  cloister  of  Bosjo,  on  condition  of  supporting  the  nuns 
who  were  still  remaining  there.  One  only  of  the  bishops,  Joa- 
kim  Konnow,  of  Roskild,  protested  against  the  outrage,  and 
refused  to  submit.  He  was  held  in  durance  till  his  death,  in 
1544  ;  king  Gustavus,  of  Sweden,  his  relative,  having,  in 
vain,  for  some  time,  endeavored  te  procure  his  release. 

The  tithes  and  property  of  the  bishops  fell  to  the  crown. 
Priests  and  churches  were  allowed  to  retain  their  tithes. 
The  nobles,  notwithstanding,  appropriated  a  part  of  them,  and 
in  time  a  free  use  of  them  was  obtained  by  these  nobles,  for 


IUSTOKY    OF   THE   ECCLESIASTICAL 

their  son-iocs  to  the  state.  The  nobles  also  obtained,  at 
tho  diet  of  1536,  the  right  of  recovering,  after  the  decease 
of  their  then  owners  or  holders,  such  possessions  as  the  no 
bles  themselves,  or  their  forefathers,  had  given  to  the  church. 

Two  of  the  kingdom's  seven  chapters  were  immediately 
suppressed.  The  remaining  live,  among  them  that  of  Lund, 
wore  allowed  to  continue  during  the  lifetime  of  their  present 
members.  In  1513,  they  were  required  to  sign  certain  ar 
ticles,  and  a  disputation  was  held  with  them.  Their  in 
comes  were  afterward,  by  degrees,  transferred  to  men  of 
learning,  priests  in  the  cities,  superintendents,  and  even  tho 
holders  of  civil  olliees,  until,  at  the  time  that  Scania  was  at 
tached  to  Sweden,  they  generally  ceased  to  exist,  in  Den 
mark.  The  cloisters  that  had  rents,  which  existed  till 
1530,  wore  suppressed  by  degrees,  and  wore  in  part  bestow 
ed  on  nobles,  and  in  part  wore  used  for  the  support  of  the 
church,  science,  the  weaker  establishments,  or  for  state  pur 
poses.  The  last  monastery  in  Denmark,  that  of  Maribo,  in 
Laland,  was  a  child  of  "NVadsten.  It  survived  its  mother, 
and  in  1021  was  suppressed. 

King  Christian  III.,  on  the  ruins  of  tho  old  church,  which 
was,  it  might  be  said,  in  the  twinkling  of  an  eye  to  fall,  was 
meditating  to  erect  the  structure  of  the  now.  For  this  pur 
pose,  doctor  John  Bugenhagcn  was  invited  from  "Witten 
berg,  where,  as  professor  and  superintendent,  he  had  distin 
guished  himself  for  learning  and  a  capacity  for  government 
ami  tho  direction  of  affairs.  By  him,  who  came  to  Don- 
mark  in  1537,  the  king  was  crowned,  and  by  him  were  or 
dained  or  consecrated,  on  the  second  of  September  of  that 
year,  the  superintendents  who  were  now  put  in  the  places 
of  the  bishops,  although  the  name  of  bishop  was  by  degrees 
commonly  applied  to  them  also.  On  the  same  day  with 
this  ordination,  was  published  and  set  forth  a  church  ordi 
nance,  which,  composed  by  the  reformers  of  Denmark  and 
reviewed  by  the  king,  was  submitted  to  the  scrutiny  of  the 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  341 

theologians  of  Wittenberg,  and,  with  their  assent,  was  now 
brought  along  with  him  to  Denmark  by  Bugenhagen.  The 
new  church  establishment  was  dependent  on  the  king.  Be 
sides  the  superintendent  who  was  to  be  chosen  by  the  select 
men  of  the  city  clergy,  sergeants  of  the  districts  of  the  see 
were  appointed,  who  were  to  have  the  care  of  the  church 
goods,  and  other  temporal  matters.  These,  with  the  super 
intendent,  were  also  to  have  the  oversight  of  church  incomes, 
schools,  hospitals,  the  good  behavior  of  priests,  and  to  con 
firm  in  office  the  parish  priests  who  were  elected  or  called 
and  approved  by  the  superintendent. 

In  Norway,  no  sign  of  the  reformation  movement  showed 
itself  before  the  year  1528,  when  a  monk  of  Bergen  began 
to  preach  the  new  doctrine.  King  Christian  IT.,  when,  in 
1531,  he  came  forward  as  defender  of  the*papal  church, 
made  his  first  essay  in  Norway,  and  found  many  to  support 
the  views  lie  then  entertained.  The  prop  of  this  church 
was  the  archbishop  of  Trondhem,  Olof  Engelbrektsson,  who, 
from  1523,  represented  the  holy  see,  the  same  man  who  long 
protected  P.  Sunnanvader  and  master  Knut.  King  Freder 
ick  made  no  attempt  to  reform  the  church  of  Norway,  but 
the  decree  of  the  diet  of  Oden.se  was  regarded  aa  applicable 
also  to  Norway.  After  the  death  of  Frederick  II.,  the 
archbishop  kept  up  a  correspondence  with  the  friends  of 
Christian  II.,  while  a  part  of  the  land  did  homage  to  Chris 
tian  III.  After  the  latter  had  brought  Denmark  into  sub 
jection,  he  turned  his  wrath  upon  the  archbishop,  who  now 
in  vain  desired  a  compromise,  fled  Holland,  and  in  1538 
died  in  exile.  Norway  was  now,  by  the  arbitrary  decree 
of  the  king  and  council  of  Denmark,  put  in  subjection  to  the 
latter  kingdom,  the  constitution  and  ritual  of  whose  church 
was  introduced  into  the  former,  and  the  people,  by  degrees, 
imperceptibly,  though  not  wholly  without  opposition,  turned 
from  the  popish  faith  and  obedience.  The  archbishopric 
of  Trondhem  ceased,  and  superintendents  were  put  in  the 


342  HISTORY    OP   THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

place  of  bishops.  Two  of  the  bishops  reconciled  themselves 
to  the  order  of  things,  and  kept  their  posts ;  Johan  Reff  of 
Opsolo,  and  Geble  Federsen,  of  Bergen,  the  latter  of  whom, 
previously  elected  by  the  chapter,  but  not  confirmed  by  the 
pope,  was  now  ordained  or  consecrated  at  Kopenham,  by 
doctor  Bugenhagen. 

Doctor  Bugenhagen  returned  to  Wittenberg,  in  1539,  the 
year  in  which  his  countryman,  master  Norman,  went  thence 
to  Sweden,  where  a  greater  task  and  occupation  awaited 
him  than  he  first  supposed. 

The  introduction  of  the  Reformation  into  Denmark,  had 
on  the  condition  of  the  Swedish  church  an  important  in 
fluence.  It  was  completed  just  before  the  time  king  Gus- 
tavus  began  to  manifest  dissatisfaction  with  the  manner  in 
which  church  affairs  were  conducted  in  Sweden.  In  con 
nection  with  his  intercourse  with  the  men  who,  from  1538, 
began  to  win  his  confidence,  and,  perhaps,  as  preparative  to 
that  confidence,  the  Danish  reformation  stood  before  the 
king's  eyes  as  the  accomplishment  of  that  which  in  Sweden 
he  deemed  himself  to  have  been  able  to  bring  only  to  a 
primary  development.  Laurentius  Andreas  had  not  suffered 
to  lapse  the  old  forms,  into  which  he  hoped  to  infuse  new 
life.  The  king  had  not  been  able  to  make  the  church  as 
submissive  as  it  was  in  Germany  and  Denmark.  But  the 
cases  were  essentially  unlike.  In  those  lands,  the  civil  free 
dom  of  the  people  had  long  before  been  prostrated,  and  by 
the  very  greatly  superior  intelligence  of  the  nobles.  Great, 
too,  was  the  rapacious  inclination  of  the  latter  to  divide  the 
spoil  of  a  rival's  power  and  wealth,  so  that  the  Reformation 
could  be  effected  without  difficulty.  In  Sweden,  the  suf 
frage  of  both  the  nobles  and  people  was  required  to  break 
the  might  of  the  hierarchy  abused  with  such  arrogance. 
The  latter  gave  their  assent,  but  shared  with  the  crown  and 
nobles  the  heirship  of  the  property  taken  back  from  the 
church.  The  necessity  of  a  violent  breaking  down  of  the 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  343 

church  constitution  was  obviated  in  Sweden,  by  the  less 
degree  of  power  the  hierarchy  was  there  at  any  time  able 
to  gain,  and  by  the  caution  which  removed  any  obstinate 
resistance  to  the  change.  But  neither  the  clergy  nor 
people,  nor,  at  first,  a  large  portion  of  the  nobles,  were  wil 
ling  to  exchange  this  power  of  the  hierarchy  for  another 
that  might  still  more  heavily  press  on  the  freedom  and  im 
provement  of  the  lower  orders  of  society.  The  church,  as 
the  stay  of  the  people,  preserved  an  independence  which 
gave  it  an  importance  even  in  the  public  civil  transactions 
of  the  fatherland.  How  much  the  preservation  of  the 
people's  freedom,  and  of  the  civil  freedom  of  Sweden,  when 
threatened  by  a  preponderating  aristocracy,  was  influenced 
for  good  by  the  independence  the  church  retained  or  re 
covered,  belongs  to  the  history  of  the  sixteenth,  and  still 
more  that  of  the  seventeenth  century.  At  this  time,  the 
most  eminent  men  of  the  priesthood  complained  of  this 
aristocracy,  that  they  had  become  "the  tribunes  of  the 
people."  But  this  is  a  subject  which  rather  appertains  to 
the  history  of  the  state. 

At  the  same  time  that  a  revolution  in  the  church  was 
accomplished  in  Denmark,  king  Gustavus  removed  Lauren- 
tius  Andrece  from  his  councils,  and  began  a  more  thorough 
reform  in  the  Swedish  church.  But  either  from  the  certainty 
or  the  dread  of  opposition,  he  did  not  allow  himself  to  take 
away  bishops  from  the  church  except  by  a  change  of  name. 
Even  this  difference  of  name  was  not  dissonant  to  ancient 
usage,  and  did  not  resemble  the  violent  overthrow  which 
had  taken  place  in  the  neighboring  kingdom.  A  change  in 
Gustavus's  measures  was  craved,  until  they  were  broken  with 
a  strong  hand  by  king  John  III. 

In  another  respect,  also,  the  Danish  church  reform  worked 
in  Sweden  in  unison  with  the  more  open  declaration  there 
made  of  the  approval  entertained  for  the  improvements 
effected  by  Luther.  Sweden  had  not  hitherto  stood  in  con- 


344  HISTORY    OF   THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

nection  or  correspondence  with  protestant  Germany.  The 
connecting  link  was  furnished  by  Denmark,  which  lay  nearer 
to  protestant  Germany,  and  was  more  closely  allied  with 
both  its  church  and  princes ;  and  the  connections  of  Sweden 
became  correspondently  influenced. 

Pope  Clement  VII.,  warned  by  the  proceeding  of  a  church 
council,  in  the  beginning  of  the  fifteenth  century,  had  refused 
to  let  a  council  be  summoned,  to  whose  judgment  the  prot- 
estants  had  incessantly  appealed.  His  successor,  Paul  III., 
after  the  papacy  recovered  itself  from  the  first  stunning  blow 
of  the  Reformation,  announced  at  last  the  opening,  in  1537, 
of  such  a  church  council  at  Mantua.  Called  by  both  the 
pope  and  emperor,  the  protestant  estates  now  refused  to 
participate  in  this  council,  because  the  pope  in  his  bull  of 
summons,  by  speaking  of  the  extirpation  of  heretics,  was 
deemed  to  have  stigmatized  them  under  that  title,  because 
he  was  a  party  and  not  a  judge,  and  because  the  place  of 
meeting  was  too  remote.  At  the  diet  of  Smalcald,  where 
they  came  to  this  resolution,  they  drew  up  a  written  defence 
of  their  refusal,  and  put  it  into  the  hands  of  their  leaders, 
the  duke  of  Saxony,  and  the  landgrave  of  Hesse,  to  circu 
late  with  these  princes'  own  letter.  These  princes  sent  both 
the  defence  and  their  letter,  with  a  proffer  of  alliance,  to 
the  kings  of  Sweden  and  Denmark.*  King  Gustavus,  with 
regard  to  the  question  of  an  alliance,  declared  his  readiness 
to  confer  with  king  Christian ;  but  replied  to  the  landgrave, 
that  he  with  joy  heard  of  that  prince's  pure  and  firm  faith, 
assured  him  of  his  own  intention  to  hold  fast  to  the  same, 
and  his  purpose  to  unite  with  the  protestants  of  Germany 
to  defend  that  faith  with  life  and  goods  against  the  pope  and 
his  followers.  After  Christian,  in  1538,  had  become  a  mem 
ber  of  the  league  of  Smalcald,  king  Gustavus  bound  him- 

*  According  to  Theiner,  king  Gustavus  had  received  from  the  pope  an 
invitation  to  send  an  ambassador  and  prelates  to  the  council,  but  he  refused 
We  do  not  consider  this  a  statement  to  be  relied  on. 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  345 

self,  without  joining  the  league,  to  support  it,  in  case  of 
need,  with  a  body  of  troops.  During  the  subsequent  year, 
negotiations  were  continued.  When,  in  1541,  Gustavus 
was,  as  appears,  again  invited  to  join  the  league,  the  Ger 
man  princes  employed  Luther  as  the  mediator.  The  king, 
in  his  answer,  gives  him  to  understand,  that  he  reformed 
the  faith,  "  according  to  the  doctrine  of  Luther,  but  being 
neglected  by  the  German  protestants,  he  could  not  renew 
the  already  made  proffer  of  a  league."  In  1542,  the  king 
of  Denmark  was  commissioned  by  the  Germans  to  negotiate 
with  Sweden  to  join  the  league  of  Smalcald.  The  year 
following,  the  German  members  of  the  league  demanded  of 
king  Gustavus  the  performance  of  his  promise  of  money  and 
troops.  But  the  disturbances  of  the  times  interrupted  or 
broke  off  the  negotiation,  till  the  success  of  the  emperor  in 
the  so-called  Smalcaldic  war,  dissolved,  in  1546,  the  league 
itself. 

This  was  a  period  gloomy  and  threatening  for  the  fu 
ture  prospects  of  the  German  evangelical  Lutheran  church. 
The  church  council,  announced  in  1537,  had,  at  last,  at  the 
close  of  1545,  been  opened  in  the  city  of  Trent.  The  prot 
estants  of  Germany  refused  to  appear.  Sweden  was  not 
called.  The  victory  of  the  Cresar  in  the  war  of  Smalcald, 
seemed  to  threaten  the  cause  of  the  Reformation  with  ruin. 
Charles  V.,  however,  maintained  with  the  pope  relations  of 
a  doubtful  aspect.  When  the  latter  removed  the  council 
from  Trent  to  Bologna,  and  thus  counteracted  the  emperor's 
design  of  constraining  the  defeated  protestants  to  appear  at 
the  council,  he  withdrew  from  the  Roman  church's  obedi 
ence,  and,  by  the  Interim  presented  to  the  estates  of  the 
empire,  at  Augsburg,  in  1548,  prescribed  the  rule  of  faith  and 
ecclesiastical  usages,  until  they  should  be  settled  by  a  general 
council  of  the  church.  This  religious  ordinance  was  as  little 
liked  by  the  protestants  as  by  the  papists.  It  was  transmitted 
by  the  king  of  Denmark  to  Gustavus  I.,  who  summoned  Olaus 

15* 


346  HISTORY    OP   THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

Petri  and  G.  Norman  to  deliberate  on  its  contents.  The 
archbishop  of  Upsala,  bishop  Bothvid  of  Striingness,  the 
two  representatives  from  bishop  Henrik  of  "VVesteras,  Pctrus 
Andreas  Svart,  successor  of  Henrik,  and  Erik  Nicolai,  be 
sides  Olaus  Petri,  and  the  pastor,  preacher,  and  schoolmas 
ter,  of  the  principal  church  of  Upsala,  met  together,  and  on 
March  30,  1549,  pronounced  their  opinion,  which  was 
strongly  disapprobatory.  It  contained  some  things  which 
might  T)e  tolerated,  if  the  purpose  and  intention  were  good 
and  Christian,  but  the  bad  suffocated  the  good.  The  Interim 
was  nothing  else  but  an  introduction  to  popery,  with  its  mass- 
sacrifice  for  the  living  and  the  dead,  its  worship  of 
saints,  its  purgatory,  and  other  the  like  errors,  which  were 
now  rejected  according  to  God's  word.  For  themselves, 
they  would  cleave  to  the.  pure  and  clear  word  of  God, 
and  for  this  suffer  and  endure  whatever  might  be  allotted 
them. 

As  the  Swedish  church,  on  the  question  regarding  the 
Interim,  decided  against  its  reception,  so  did  she  also  decide^ 
about  ten  years  later,  in  the  so-called  Synergistic  contro 
versy,  which  was  violently  agitated  in  the  evangelical 
Lutheran  academies  of  Germany.  She  expressly  declared 
herself,  through  her  bishops,  against  those  who  regarded  the 
nature  of  man,  fallen  through  the  sin  of  Adam,  still  to  have 
strength  with  God's  grace  to  work  out  its  own  conversion. 
She  attributed  all  to  the  sole  grace  of  God. 

The  government  of  the  kingdom  of  Sweden  was  charged 
with  an  additional  duty  respecting  the  church,  by  the  union 
of  Estland  and  Liffland  with  Sweden,  originated  in  the 
reign  of  king  Erik  XIV.  As  early  as  the  year  1561,  this 
king  recommends,  in  his  rules  for  the  government  of  Litf- 
land,  the  care  of  the  pure  word  of  God,  the  providing  of 
priests  and  schools,  and  the  building  of  churches.  But  as 
yet,  these  countries  stood  in  no  near  connection  with  the 
Swedish  church. 


REFORMATION   IN    SWEDEN.  347 

In  general  the  Swedish  church,  although  it  almost  wholly 
coincided  with  the  Lutheran  reformation,  had  maintained 
no  intimate  alliances  in  matters  of  faith,  with  foreigners. 
Its  reform  had  gone  on  in  its  own  path,  and  could  not  be 
brought  into  a  full  conformity  with  foreign  patterns.  The 
confession  of  the  church  was  and  remained  indefinite,  except 
in  certain  points.  The  complexity  of  his  political  relations 
justified  king  Gustavus's  caution,  in  entering  too  closely  into 
the  German  protestant  league.  Nay,  within  three  years 
after  his  death,  had  king  Erik  already  drawn  his  sword 
against  his  nearest  fellow  in  the  faith,  the  king  of  Denmark 
and  Norway. 

Grave  proofs  would  not  be  wanting  of  the  rational 
grounds  for  dreading  the  intrusion  even  of  Jesuitism. 
Another  little  less  dangerous  foe,  Calvinism,  awakened  con 
temporaneous  disorders  and  contentions.  It  is  to  the  im 
perishable  honor  of  archbishop  L/aurentius  Petri,  that  he 
turned  aside  one  of  these  foes,  and  armed  the  church  against 
the  other,  while  he  protected  her  laws  against  the  inroads 
of  external  power. 


348  HISTORY    OF   THE    ECCLESIASTICAL, 


CHAPTER    X. 

THE  LAST  WORK  IX  -WHICH  OLAUS  PETRI  WAS  ENGAGED.  HIS 
DEATH.  LAURENT1US  PETRI  AGAINST  THE  KING,  AND  AGAINST 
THE  CALVINISTS. 

(TO    KING    JOHN    III.'s   ELEVATION    TO    THE    SWEDISH    TIIROSE.) 

:  AFTER  the  suit  and  trial,  which  well  nigh  terminated  in 
ie  sacrifice  of  Laurentius  Andrea;  and  Olaus  Petri,  and 
holly  removed  the  former  from  participation  in  the  public 
hffairs  of  the  church,  no  trace,  for  the  first  three  years,  is  dis 
covered  of  the  renewed  or  progressive  activity  of  Olof.  Ho 
/  appears  to  have  kept  himself  in  voluntary  or  constrained  re 
tirement,  while  the  reformation  of  the  church  was  zealously 
conducted  under  new  leaders.  He  held,  by  grant  of  the 
king,  in  1542,  the  canonry  of  Alunda,  in  Upsala,  with  all 
its  rents.  But  in  the  year  when  the  grand  insurrection  in 
Southern  Sweden  was  with  difficulty  suppressed,  and  the 
new  favorite  Von  Pyhy  was  discarded,  Olof  again  steps 
forth  upon  the  scene  of  action,  nominated  by  the  king,  on 
April  7,  1543,  to  the  pastorship  of  the  church  in  Stockholm. 
The  king  again  bestowed  on  him  a  portion,  of  the  confidence 
he  before  enjoyed,  listened  to  his  advice,  and  used  his  aid. 
Yet  he  did  not  recover  his  previous  degree  of  influence  ;  nor 
had  his  undaunted  and  incautious  zeal  been  curbed  by  mis 
fortune.  He  still  continued  intrepidly  to  utter  his  senti 
ments  and  proclaim  his  opinions.  In  1544,  he  was  again 
in  danger  of  being  put  upon  his  trial,  probably  for  indiscreet 
expressions  with  regard  to  the  king.  The  danger,  however, 


REFORMATION   IN    SWEDEN.  349 

stopped  at  the  serious  warning  he  received,  to  preach  among 
the  king's  subjects,  duty  and  obedience,  and  "  not  so  often 
run  a  tilt  against  the  buckler  of  his  prince,  as  was  his  wont." 
For  the  last  eight  years,  he  appears  to  have  enjoyed  freedom 
and  quiet,  until,  on  April  19,  1552,  he  closed  his  active  and 
fruitful  life  at  Stockholm,  whose  chief  church  preserves  his 
tomb  and  epitaph.  But  a  few  days  intervened  between  his 
death  and  that  of  Laurent! us  Andreas.  Both  these  men, 
who  wrought  together  in  the  harmony  of  Christian  faith 
and  knowledge,  for  the  church  and  their  fatherland,  went 
together  to  their  rest. 

In  little  less  than  eight  years  from  the  time  of  Olaus's  re 
turn  to  Stockholm,  on  January  1,  1553,  G.  Norman  also 
died.  During  the  fourteen  years  he  resided  in  Sweden,  he 
steadily  enjoyed  the  favor  and  confidence  of  king  Gustavus, 
was  elevated  by  him  to  the  council  of  the  kingdom,  in  1544, 
and  was  employed  in  the  business  of  church  and  state.  But 
the  care  of  ecclesiastical  affairs  intrusted  to  him  as  the  king's 
superintendent,  was  not,  it  is  said,  otherwise  exercised  by 
him,  after  the  year  1540,  than  as  adviser  of  his  sovereign. 
Neither  visitations,  nor  the  placing  of  priests  in  their  cures, 
are  mentioned,  as  after  that  time  practised  by  him.  To  the 
bishops  and  priests,  he  seems  not  always  to  have  stood  in  a 
friendly  relation,  in  consequence  of  administering  or  per 
haps  enforcing  the  not  universally  acceptable  measures  of  the 
king  regarding  the  church.  Neither  great  praise  nor  blame 
attends  his  memory,  which  his  piety  protected  from  stain, 
and  his  modest  and  honorable  conduct  from  reproach. 

At  the  time  when  these  three  men,  soon  after  one  another, 
passed  to  the  higher  tribunal,  at  which  they  were  to  appear 
to  render  an  account  of  their  actions,  archbishop  Lauren tius 
Petri,  who  shared  their  labors,  and  filled  the  foremost 
place  in  the  church,  had  finished  the  half  of  his  long  earthly 
journey  in  his  important  vocation.  We  have  seen  him  du 
ring  the  first  twenty  years  of  that  period,  step  forward,  and 


350  HISTORY    OF    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

on  each  occasion  in  bold  relief,  as  when,  in  1538,  he  resent 
ed  the  ahuses  within  the  church,  in  1541,  offered  a  complete 
translation  of  the  Bible  into  Swedish,  and  in  1549,  pronoun- 
{ ced  judgment  against  the  Interim.  The  year  after  the  pubr 
j  lication  of  the  Bible  translation  he  does  not  appear  in  any 
i  public  transaction.  But  a  work  which  he  at  this  time  com- 
i  posed,  though  not  printed  till  more  than  forty  years  after, 
manifests  that  he  did  not  disapprove  the  important  meas 
ures  then  pursued  for  the  improvement  of  public  worship. 
Probably  this  production  was  a  quiet  exercise  for  his  mind 
in  troublous  days.  It  argues,  in  an  easy  dialogue,  the  rea 
sonableness  of  introducing  the  mass  in  Swedish,  because  the 
Latin  had  not  a  divine  origin,  and,  in  its  expressions  of  offer 
ing  up  a  sacrifice,  was  contrary  to  the  word  of  God.  They 
who  took  offence  at  the  change  had  less  claim  to  indulgent 
regard  than  those  who  desired  to  restore  or  not  to  lose  the 
mass  in  Swedish.  A  good  shepherd,  convinced  that  the 
Latin  mass  was  not  Christian,  and  that  the  Swedish  was 
good  and  right,  ought  not  to  give  way,  but  unweariedly  teach, 
exhort,  and  reprove,  and  rather  hold  no  mass  than  return  to 
the  Latin. 

The  activity  of  Laurentius  was  quiet  and  unassuming. 
He  sought  not  controversy,  but  did  not  decline  it  where  it 
was  necessary.  He  was  of  that  class  of  men  who,  in  the 
firm  confidence  that  they  are  doing  the  work  of  the  Lord, 
but  also  that  He  alone  can  give  the  increase,  labor  in  pa 
tience,  and  without  any  other  ambition  than  the  witness  of  a 
good  conscience  before  God,  and  are  therefore  yielding  and 
compliant,  so  long  as  the  sanctuary  of  truth  is  not  assailed, 
but  firm  and  ready  for  the  combat,  when  its  protection  is 
demanded.  For  the  last  twenty-two  years  of  his  life  he  was 
the  foremost  man  in  the  controversies  of  the  church. 

The  first  controversy  he  had,  was  with  the  king  and  G. 
Norman.  Among  the  immunities  and  privileges  which,  at 
tlie  time  of  the  Reformation,  princes  in  particular  claimed, 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  351 

there  were  few  that  required  a  more  nice  investigation,  were 
more  trying,  than  those  which  required  the  restrictions  to 
be  removed  that  the  laws  of  the  church  had  imposed  upon 
matrimonial  engagements.  Some  of  these  restrictions  were 
unreasonable  and  against  the  law  of  God.  But  it  was  un 
decided  how  far  the  privileges  should  be  extended.  The 
king  of  England  severed  the  church  of  his  land  from  Rome, 
to  gain  a  divorce  refused  him  by  the  pope.  The  landgrave 
Philip,  of  Hesse,  did  not  wish  a  divorce  from  his  wife,  but 
constrained  Luther  and  Melancthon  to  give  him  permission, 
to  add  another.  This  permission  was  repented  by  them, 
and  disapproved  by  the  church.  In  Sweden,  king  Gustavus, 
after  the  death  of  queen  Margaret,  demanded  the  church's 
approval  of  his  wish  to  marry  Katharina  Stenbock,  the 
sister's  daughter  of  his  deceased  wife.  But  he  could  not  in 
duce  the  leading  men  of  the  church  to  give  this  approval. 

The  case  was  laid  before  bishop  Henri k,  of  Westeras,  on 
the  part  of  the  king,  when,  in  the  spring  of  1552,  the  latter 
was  on  a  visit  there.  The  bishop  consulted  with  the  arch 
bishop,  who,  immediately  communicating  with  those  who 
yere  interested  in  the  question,  replied,  that,  according  to 
his  conviction,  such  a  marriage  was  forbidden  by  the  law  of 
God.  Soon  after,  the  archbishop  received  orders  from  the 
king,  who  gave  him  to  understand  that  he  was  determined 
on  the  marriage  with  Katharina,  to  call  together  the  bish 
ops  of  Striingness  and  Westeras,  and  in  connection  with 
them  pronounce  an  opinion  on  the  question.  They  met  at 
Enkoping  in  midsummer,  and  delivered  their  judgment,  in 
which,  though  admitting  that  no  express  prohibition  was  to 
be  found  in  Scripture,  they  declared  that  the  invalidity  of 
such  a  marriage  was  to  be  inferred  from  the  eighteenth 
chapter  of  the  third  book  of  Moses,  that  any  respect  of  per 
sons  could  have  no  weight  in  what  concerned  the  law  of 
God,  that  a  good  purpose  could  not  justify  the  transgression 
of  this  law,  that  examples  from  the  Old  Testament  did  not 


352  HISTORY    OF    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

annul  the  law,  and  that  scandal  ought  to  be  avoided.  Dis 
satisfaction  with  this  judgment  brought  the  king  to  Wad- 
sten,  where,  in  presence  of  the  council  and  the  dukes  Erik 
and  John,  the  king's  cause  was  pleaded  by  G.  Norman,  who 
attempted  to  prove,  that  the  degree  of  consanguinity  here 
existing  was  no  preventive  of  marriage  accorcling  to  God's 
law.  The  bishops,  to  whom  Erik  Falk,  of  Skara,  was  now 
added,  could  not,  either  by  bribes,  or  by  the  anger  of  the 
king,  from  whom,  in  his  allowed  prerogative,  they  received 
hard  and  reproachful  words,  be  induced  to  change  their  judg 
ment.  This  "judgment  they  averred  they  could  not,  for 
conscience's  sake,  disavow,  but  they  also  averred  their  invio 
lable  purpose  to  keep  the  faith  they  had  sworn  to  the  king, 
to  construe  favorably  all  that  was  done,  and  endeavor  the 
prevention  of  disorders  and  discontent  in  the  kingdom. 
Notwithstanding  their  opposition,  the  king's  marriage  took 
place,  on  the  22d  of  August,  and  the  crowning  of  the  new 
queen  followed.  Not  the  archbishop,  but  the  ordinary  of 
Linkoping,  Claudius  Ilvit,  who  agreed  with  G.  Norman, 
performed  the  sacred  ceremonies. 

It  belongs  not  to  us  to  criticise  the  reasons  which  were 
alleged  for  and  against  this  marriage  on  the  ground  of  affin 
ity.  But  that  a  king,  otherwise  so  despotic,  made  such  ac 
count  of  the  approbation  of  the  clergy,  merits  observation. 
The  king  may  have  designed  to  provide  against  the  censure 
which  this  marriage  might  create,  but  his  course  shows  that 
the  church,  at  the  close  of  his  reign,  was  still  free,  and  did 
not  suffer  her  laws  to  be  bowed  at  the  sport  of  caprice.  The 
king  also  showed  that  he  respected  an  opposition  Avhich  pro 
ceeded  from  pure  conscientious  scruples.  Laurentius  Petri 
acted,  not  from  the  love  of  power,  but  from  conviction 
of  the  contrariety  of  such  a  marriage  to  the  law  of  God. 
About  twenty  years  later,  he  was  alike  inflexible  in  regard 
to  the  marriage  of  first  cousins,  and  allowed  himself  to  be 
little  moved  by  the  sentence  of  the  university  of  Rostock, 
which  now  agreed  with  the  king. 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  353 

In  the  case  of  king  Gustavus's  marriage,  the  archbishop, 
and  those  of  the  same  opinion,  had  from  the  first  declared 
themselves  not  thoroughly  satisfied,  inasmuch  as  the  Scrip 
tures  were  not  express  on  the  subject,  and  they  could,  there 
fore,  without  doing  violence  to  their  consciences,  give  the 
pledge  which  they  made  the  king,  even  after  his  nuptials, 
that  they  would  favorably  construe  what  had  been  done. 
As  this  dispute  had  given  warning  what  the  church  might 
fear  for  the  sanctity  of  its  laws,  from  a  power  which  could 
throw  the  sword  into  the  scale  opposite  to  that  of  truth,  so 
was  the  archbishop  soon  summoned  to  another  of  great  im 
portance  to  the  Swedish  church. 

The  church  reformation  had  been  consequent  upon  the 
necessity  of  purifying  the  church  from  the  abuses  to  which 
it  had  been  subjected.  The  investigation  undertaken  of  the 
church's  doctrine,  usages,  and  constitution,  in  order  to  ascer 
tain  their  agreement  or  disagreement  with  Holy  Scripture, 
occasioned  different  senses  to  be  given  to  one  or  other  of 
the  doctrines  of  the  church,  or  a  variant  toleration  for  the 
ecclesiastical  customs  that  in  the  course  of  time  had  become 
common  in  the  church.  There  was  a  greater  or  less  sever 
ance  from  all  connection  with  the  past.  A  separation  soon 
took  place  between  the  German  and  Swiss  Reformation. 
The  development  of  the  latter,  effected  chiefly  by  French 
men,  and  most  of  all  by  Calvin  after  he  removed  to  Geneva, 
still  further  divided  them,  the  more,  that  an  apparent  or 
specious  agreement  obliged  Lutheranism  to  assume  a  hostile 
attitude  whenever  Calvinism  seemed  to  be  going  too  far. 
There  was  still  some  dissonance  between  the  two  bodies, 
arising  from  the  dissimilarity  of  their  form  of  government, 
after  Calvinism  built  for  itself  a  new  form  of  hierarchy 
divergent  from  the  Roman.  But  the  question  respecting 
the  real  presence  of  the  body  and  blood  of  Christ  in  the 
Eucharist,  in  which  question  almost  all  the  important  dif 
ferences  between  Lutheranism  and  Calvinism  are  included, 


354  HISTORY   OF   THE   ECCLESIASTICAL 

together  with  Calvin's  rigid  doctrine  of  predestination, 
awakened  controversies  and  contentions.  Besides  this,  the 
gloomy  eye  of  Calvinism  saw  in  the  innocent  customs  and 
ceremonies  of  the  church  retained  from  former  times,  a  pa 
pistic  leaven  which  ought  to  be  removed,  and  the  more 
zealous  Lutherans  did  not  discountenance  the  removal. 

In  Sweden,  there  still  existed,  even  subsequent  to  the  year 
1544,  much  that  was  unlike  what  was  to  be  found  in  other 
lands.  The  foreigners  who  came  into  the  country,  and  who 
had  more  zeal  than  truth  or  discretion,  interfered  with  the 
freedom  which  was  observed  with  regard  to  church  usages, 
and  which  in  some  places  began  in  consequence  to  be  laid 
aside  ;  while  the  Swedes  who  returned  from  their  travels 
abroad,  not  unfrequently  brought  back  with  them  that  spirit 
of  imitation  which  is  wont  to  present  the  pretext  of  a  higher 
cultivation  and  deeper  acquaintance  with  truth. 

Their  views  were  influenced  by  Calvinistic  principles. 
As  early  as  king  Gustavus's  time,  the  professors  of  those 
principles  had  entered  Sweden,  among  whom  was  Dionysius 
Beurreus,  tutor  of  duke  Erik,  of  whose  origin  we  have  no 
certain  information  except  that  he  was  a  Frenchman.  He 
came  to  Sweden  in  1547.  Many  others  of  various  shades 
of  opinion  came  hither,  partly  to  follow  up  their  fortunes, 
partly  to  escape  persecution  in  their  native  lands.  Not  a 
few  were  from  France  and  England.  About  the  time  of 
king  Gustavus's  third  marriage,  in  Wadsten,  occurred  there 
acts  of  violence  originating  in  an  immoderate  hatred  of 
popery ;  at  which  time  the  images  and  pictures  which  had 
been  left  in  the  churches  of  the  cloisters  were  mutilated  and 
defaced.  It  was  attributed  to  "  the  Calvinists  among  the 
king's  fiddlers,"  and  it  is  said  that  the  king  did  not  rebuke 
the  offence,  but  was  more  concerned  for  the  scandal  than 
the  act  itself.  To  the  king,  Calvin  himself  wrote,  in  1559, 
in  recommendation  of  his  doctrine.  The  two  older  sons  of 
Gustavus,  who  were  among  the  most  accomplished  men  of 


REFORMATION   IN    SWEDEN.  355 

their  time,  were  thought  to  have  no  disinclination.  Erik, 
it  was  feared,  had  drunk  of  the  stream  through  his  tutor 
Bcurreus ;  and  John  is  said  to  have  become  captivated  with 
the  writings  of  Calvin,  during  his  visit,  in  portions  of  the 
years  1559  and  1560,  to  England,  when  the  works  of  Calvin 
became  known  to  him. 

On  the  accession  of  Erik  to  the  throne,  the  more  rigid 
protestant  party,  with  which  the  Calvinists  at  first  took 
part,  were  in  hope  of  a  still  more  extended  suc 
cess  ;  since  the  king,  as  his  father  had  done  before  him, 
invited  foreigners  to  settle  in  his  kingdom.  On  March  5, 
1561,  Beurreus,  who  was  that  year  sent  to  England,  was  em 
powered  to  issue  a  charter,  by  which  the  invitation  was 
confirmed  upon  condition  that  pure  Christian  doctrine,  con 
formable  to  Holy  Scripture,  should  be  taught  by  any  who 
came,  that  no  heresies  should  be  sown,  and  that  the  religion 
of  the  country  should  not  be  disturbed,  nor  the  people  en 
ticed  away  from  its  profession.  But,  inasmuch  as  the 
Swedish  church  had  not  yet  set  forth  her  confession  of  faith 
in  all  its  parts,  it  could  not  be  accurately  determined  when 
these  conditions  were  broken  or  unfulfilled. 

At  the  diet  of  Arboga,  held  in  the  month  of  April,  1561, 
a  discussion  took  place  on  certain  changes  which  chiefly  re 
lated  to  ecclesiastical  usages  of  an  indifferent  nature,  but 
with  regard  to  which  it  now  became  necessary  to  assert  the 
church's  liberty  to  retain  or  reject  them,  or  certify  their  co 
herence  with  her  confession  of  faith.  The  king  laid  before 
the  clergy  orally,  and  afterward  in  writing,  interrogatories 
respecting  the  elevation  of  the  sacrament  (that  is,  of  the 
bread  and  wine  in  the  Lord's  Supper),  the  use  of  images, 
the  altar,  the  mass  cloths,  and  the  lighting  of  candles  at  the 
time,  of  divine  service.  Were  these  to  be  retained  or  reject 
ed  1  The  answer  was,  that  the  elevation  of  the  sacrament 
was  an  indifferent  ceremony,  and  might  be  omitted  where  it 
could  be  so  done  without  scandal,  but  that  the  worship  of 
it,  by  which  was  to  be  understood  the  kneeling  at  its  recep- 


356  HISTORY    OP    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

tion,  should  be  retained,  because  there  is  the  body  and  blood 
of  the  Lord,  "  which  is  worthy  of  all  honor  and  reverence  ;" 
that  images  were  not  sinful  in  themselves,  but  all  worship 
of  them  should  be  forbidden  ;  that  one  altar  was  necessary 
in  every  church,  but  no  more ;  that  mass  cloths  and  wax 
lights  were  things  indifferent,  which  any  congregation  might 
at  pleasure  retain  or  reject. 

The  king  appears  to  have  been  till  now  vacillating,  and 
to  have  been  worried  by  the  representations  of  the  foreign 
ers.  Somewhat  more  than  a  year  later,  in  the  summer  ot 
1562,  he  shows  himself  more  settled  in  his  views,  when  he 
required  of  the  bishops  and  priests  assembled  in  Stockholm 
their  opinions  on  certain  articles.  Different  views  respect 
ing  the  holy  supper  had  become  current ;  he  therefore 
asked,  in  order  that  the  truth  might  be  made  manifest,  con 
sciences  not  be  troubled,  and  the  quiet  of  the  kingdom  put 
to  hazard,  that  learned  men  should  examine  these  questions. 
This  was  the  more  necessary,  as  the  "  local  ordinary," 
M.  Johannes,  confessor  to  the  late  king  Gustavus,  wras  not 
regarded  as  orthodox,  and  ought  to  be  made  to  give  an  ac 
count  of  his  faith.  A  decision  ought  also  to  be  given  on 
the  disputed  point  of  dividing  the  ten  commandments, 
of  which  some  desired  four  to  be  put  in  the  first  table.  It 
was  in  conclusion  proposed,  whether  or  not  the  indifferent 
practices,  such  as  exorcising  at  the  time  of  baptism,  eleva 
tion  of  the  sacrament,  and  the  like,  should  be  discon 
tinued. 

Any  other  answer  is  not  known  to  us,  than  that  of  the 
decrees  of  a  council  held  at  Stockholm,  where,  however,  no 
doctrinal  determinations  were  promulged.  The  obscure 
records  of  the  times,  do  not  even  enable  us  to  say  with  cer 
tainty,  whether  these  decrees  were  passed  before  or  after  the 
propositions,  which,  on  the  7th  of  July,  were  presented  by 
the  king.  However  that  may  be,  it  appears  that  the  arch 
bishop  took  upon  himself  to  answer  them. 


REFORMATION   IN    SWEDEN.  357 

Laurentius  Petri  found  himself,  by  the  circumstances  of 
the  times,  compelled  to  come  forward  in  opposition  to  the 
party  that  threatened  the  freedom  of  the  church  and  her 
confession,  if  such  may  be  termed  the  Lutheran  sentiments 
respecting  the  Lord's  supper,  which  were  generally  preva 
lent.  He  was  the  more  induced  to  pursue  the  course  he 
adopted,  by  the  sincere  and  hearty  interest  he  felt  for  the 
liberty  which  called  itself  evangelical,  but  manifested  iis  op 
position  to  the  papal  reverence  for  the  sacrament,  by  cele 
brating  it  with  the  head  covered,  or  the  face  turned  aside, 
or  in  conversation  with  the  bystanders,  to  exhibit  the  indif 
ference  felt  for  anything  like  the  real  presence. 

A  challenge  to  the  combat  was  made  in  1562,  by  two 
published  works  of  Laurentius  Petri.  One  of  these  is  in  ) 
defence  of  exorcism.  The  other  expressly  rejects  alike  the 
doctrine  of  the  sacramentarians,  of  a  mere  spiritual  eating 
and  drinking  in  the  eucharist,  and  the  popish  doctrine  of 
transubstantiation.  It  also  defends  the  consecration  of  the 
sacrament,  and  the  kneeling  at  its  reception,  the  allowable- 
ness  of  the  use  of  images,  and  the  liberty  of  the  church  in 
things  indifferent.  With  respect  to  the  elevation  of  the 
sacrament  in  the  Lord's  supper,  which  king  Gustavus,  in 
1550,  reproached  the  pastor  of  Wadsten  for  voluntarily 
omitting,  the  foreigners,  it  was  remarked,  had  taken  offence 
at  the  retention  of  a  practice  in  Sweden,  to  which  they 
were  unaccustomed  in  their  own  countries.  The  archbishop 
answers,  that  their  judgment  might  be  disregarded,  since 
they  who  were  scandalized  at  the  custom  were  no  less  in 
error  than  they  who  considered  it  essential.  In  conclusion, 
the  writings  of  Laurentius,  after  this  time,  show  that  many 
of  the  resolutions,  adopted  in  the  councils  held  in  the  years 
15G1  and  1562,  did  not  meet  his  approbation.  The  better- 
informed  members  of  the  church,  he  says,  had  regarded 
images  as  to  be  tolerated  in  churches.  If  they  were  abused 
by  bowing  down  to  them,  and  the  abuse  could  not  otherwise 


358  HISTORY    OF   THE   ECCLESIASTICAL 

be  rectified,  they  ought  to  be  removed,  but  quietly,  without 
riot.  Abuses  have  occurred  among  us,  and  this  was  the 
reason  the  council  of  Arboga  permitted  the  removal  of 
images.  The  priests  ought  to  see  that  the  decree  was 
carried  into  execution  where  it  was  necessary.  With  regard 
to  the  prohibition  of  several  altars,  the  church  law  of  1571 
had  given  notice,  that,  in  towns  where  congregations  were 
of  a  greater  size,  more  than  one  altar  in  a  church  might 
well  be  allowed. 

The  gauntlet  thrown  down  was  taken  up  by  doctor  Beur- 
reus,  who  felt  himself  so  touched  by  the  remarks  of  the 
archbishop  against  the  sacramentarians,  as  the  Calvinists 
were  then  called,  that  he  put  forth  a  refutation.  In  this 
controversial  production,  the  author  undertakes  to  justify 
his  faith,  that  is  to  say,  his  Calvinism  respecting  the  Lord's 
supper,  by  quoting,  among  other  modes  of  defence,  the 
Augsburg  confession  and  its  Apology.  This  was  the  first 
time,  if  we  are  not  mistaken,  that  these  confessions  of  faith 
were  quoted  in  Sweden ;  but  archbishop  Lars,  in  his 
answer  to  Beurreus,  allows  them  no  special  weight  and  im 
portance  ;  although  he  observes  that  between  them  and  the 
doctrine  of  the  sacramentarians  there  was  no  greater  con 
formity  than  between  Christ  and  Belial.  He  endeavors,  in 
conclusion,  to  establish  out  of  the  Holy  Scriptures  and  the 
fathers  of  the  church,  his  belief  of  the  real  presence  of  the 
body  and  blood  of  Christ  in  the  supper  of  the  Lord. 

Beurreus  did  not  hastily  give  up  his  case  as  lost.  But 
with  the  theological  erudition  which,  from  the  later  days  of 
king  Gustavus  I.'s  reign,  was  to  be  found  in  Sweden,  and 
with  the  close  intercourse  kept  up  between  \Vittenbcrg  and 
Kostock,  where  the  most  accomplished  of  the  Swedes  had 
studied,  it  was  not  to  be  feared  that  the  archbishop  would 
be  left  solitary  in  his  combat  against  Calvinism.  Beurreus 
set  forth  ten  queries,  on  the  orthodoxy  of  the  Athanasian 
creed,  on  the  Lord's  supper,  on  the  participation  of  the 


REFORMATION   IX    SWEDEN.  359 

\  divine  properties  by  the  human  nature  of  Christ,  and  sub- 
I  jectsofa  like  kind;  but  was  answered  by  Martinus  Olai, 
1  who,  in  his  turn,  put  to  Beurreus  other  new  queries.* 

King  Erik  soon  found  the  necessity  of  quieting  the 
1  commotions  which  these  controversies  awakened,  and  de- 
|  clared  his  opposition  to  Calvinism,  which,  although  without 
mentioning  it  by  name,  he  stigmatizes  as  "  a  distorted  doc 
trine."  This  he  does  in  an  edict  issued,  Aug.  29,  1563, 
from  his  camp,  a  few  days  after  he  went  from  Stockholm  to 
the  war  lately  undertaken  against  Denmark.  The  foreign 
ers  were  forbidden  to  propagate  their  errors  among  the 
people,  or  to  engage  in  disputations  with  any  "  but  such  as 
are  appointed  for  that  purpose,"  and  others  were  prohibited 
from  entering  into  dogmatic  controversies  with  them.  The 
foreigners*  however,  were  permitted  to  hold  their  opinions, 
and  even  to  have  public  worship  at  fixed  times  in  the 
churches  of  the  land,  probably  with  a  view  of  converting 
them  from  their  distorted  doctrine. 

The  schism  which  occurred  between  the  Lutherans  and 
Calvinists,  now  crept  even  into  the  Swedish  church  itself. 
The  foreigners  seem  imprudently  to  have  been  desirous  of 
diffusing  their  opinions,  and  it  is  probable,  found  support 
from  the  Lutheran  puritans.  By  this  means  they  roused 
the  Swedish  clergy,  who  applied  to  the  archbishop  to  preach 
against  them,  and  warn  his  flock  against  their  errors, 
\Vhen  the  church  thus  appeared  to  declare  against  them, 
the  Calvinists  of  Stockholm  were  necessitated  to  appeal  to 
the  king's  protection.  They  submitted  to  him  their  confes 
sion  of  faith,  with  very  few  alterations,  the  same  which, 

*  Martinus  Olai,  in  a  Latia  letter  to  the  archbishop,  says:  "Some  set 
Calvin  so  hkh  as  not  to  fear  asserting  that  he  can  err  in  nothing,  because  he 
has  the  Holy  Spirit.  This  ftnxs  to  me  redolent  of  popery"  Beurreus  is  said 
to  have  aroused  the  archbishop  of  being  a  papist  We  find  no  proof  of  this, 
though  it  is  probable  he  deemed  the  prelate's  views  to  border  upon  the  papal. 
Of  the  archbishop  he  speaks  very  respectfully,  as  aan  eminent  end  remark 
able  man,  from  whose  writings  and  conversation  I  much  profited.** 


360  HISTORY    OF   THE   ECCLESIASTICAL 

translated  into  Latin,  was,  in  1559,  adopted  by  the  reformed 
church  of  France  at  its  first  national  synod,  and  requested 
that  it  might  be  compared  with  the  word  of  God,  and  be 
printed  in  Swedish  and  Latin.  They  petitioned  also  to  be 
secured  in  the  free  exercise  of  their  religion  within  their 
houses,  if  the  king  should  not  think  fit  to  allow  them,  like 
the  Germans,  to  have  their  own  churches  and  public  wor 
ship.* 

The  most  energetic  opponent  of  the  Calvinists  in  Stock 
holm,  after  the  year  1562,  was  Laurentius  Olaus  Gestricius, 
pastor  of  the  principal  church  in  the  city,  and  successor  of 
M.  Johannes,  who  had  been  suspected  of  Calvinism.  As 
soon  as  their  confession  of  faith  had  been  submitted  to  the 
king,  Olaus  presented  a  refutation,  accompanied  with  a  let 
ter,  in  which  he  avouches  that  from  the  pulpit  he  had 
warned  his  hearers  of  the  errors  of  which  he  now  also 
wished  to  notify  the  king. 

We  are  sufficiently  assured  from  public  documents,  that 
these  controversies  were  the  occasion  of  much  disorder  in 
Stockholm,  but  the  details  have  not  conic  down  to  us.  The 
Calvinists,  with  whom  we  suppose  that  the  Lutheran  sepa 
ratists  had  a  common  cause,f  held  their  meetings,  in  which 
the  natives  participated,  in  the  northern  suburbs  of  the  city. 
It  appears,  that,  after  the  king,  at  the  end  of  June,  went  to 
Eastgothland,  Laurentius  Olaus  followed  him  with  com 
plaints  of  the  interruptions  experienced  in  the  exercise  of 
his  office.  He  returned,  armed  with  an  injunction  to  the 
governor  of  Stockholm  that  master  Lars  should  be  allowed 

*  These  Germans  were  generally  of  the  Lutheran  faith  and  confession. 

t  These  are  they  whom  archbishop  Lars  describes  in  his  book  written  in 
1566:  "They  denounce  and  decry  all  others  who  do  not  join  in  their 
new  devices,  as  papists  and  hypocrites,  and  just  so  did  the  Novatians  and 
Donatists  of  old  time.  God  is  a  God  who  will  have  mercy  and  not  sacrifice, 
as  he  has  himself  declared.  How  much  less  will  he  accept  the  ceremonies 
of  the  sacrament  in  lieu  of  mercy,  that  is,  in  lieu  of  the  peace  and  concord 
which  Christian  congregations  should  maintain." 


REFORMATION   IN    SWEDEN.  361 

to  prosecute  his  labors  undisturbed,  that  the  meetings  of  his 
adversaries  should  be  suspended,  until-there  could  be  a  more 
thorough  investigation  of  their  doctrine,  that  no  one  should 
speak  against  the  preaching  and  worship  which  were  in  con*- 
formity  with  the  principles  of  Martin  Luther,  "  ivhich" 
says  the  king,  "  we  approve  and  desire  to  be  strenuously  main 
tained." 

King  Erik  had  by  this  letter  expressly  declared  himself 
for  the  Lutheran  confession,  and  it  is  evident,  from  its  con 
tents,  how  completely  from  a  state  of  doubt  he  had  passed 
to  a  disapproval  -of  Calvinism  and  an  adherence  to  the 
Lutheran  tenets.  In  the  public  edict,  however,  he  avoids 
citing  the  name  of  Luther.  The  controversy  having  con 
tinued  for  some  time,  and  the  king  having,  in  1563,  renewed 
his  edict,  he,  at  last,  on  Dec.  4,  1565,  issued  a  mandate  of 
even  a  more  rigid  complexion. 

In  this  mandate  he  says,  that  he  perceived  that  some 
foreigners  who  had  come  into  the  kingdom  harbored  and 
endeavored  to  spread  distorted  doctrines,  denying  -that  the 
body  and  blood  of  Christ  were  really  present  and  adminis 
tered  in  the  Lord's  supper,  and  that  the  humanity  of  Christ 
was  as  omnipotent  as  his  divinity.  As  such  doctrines 
taught  by  them  are  contrary  to  holy  Scripture,  from  which 
passages  in  refutation  are  quoted,  the  king  in  virtue  of  his 
royal  office  admonishes  their  maintainers  to  renounce  them. 
If  they  would  not  heed  this  admonition,  they  must  retain 
their  false  faith  at  the  peril  of  their  own  souls,  since  the 
king  "  would  not  master  any  man's  conscience."  But  they 
were  gravely  forbidden,  by  speech  or  writing,  to  aim  at  prop 
agating  their  error's  among  the  king's  subjects.  Should 
they  continue  faulty  as  heretofore,  the  king's  officers  and 
governors  were  to  keep  them  in  ward  till  they  promised 
amendment.  Upon  a  renewal  of  their  fault,  they  were  to 
be  banished  the  land,  unless  within  fourteen  days  they  made 
their  excuse  to  the  king. 

16 


362  HISTORY    OF    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

King  Erik  XIV.  was  thus  determined  not  to  leave  Calvin 
ism  any  influence  within  his  kingdom,  notwithstanding  he 
kept  his  promise  of  religious  freedom  to  the  extent  granted  in 
1561  to  immigrant  foreigners.  That  these,  especially 
Beurreus,  thought  they  might  venture  to  attempt  the  spread 
of  their  doctrines  is  evident ;  but  no  sign  is  to  be  found,  un 
less  at  the  very  beginning  of  Erik's  reign,  that  they  were 
countenanced  by  him.  At  least  the  church's  confession  of 
faith,  if  we  may  so  speak  of  its  guardians  and  sponsors,  was 
in  such  a  case  strong  enough  to  hold  him  back  ;  and  al 
though  among  the  probable  and  reasonable  causes  of  his 
dislike,  may  be  reckoned  the  treatment  shown  by  Beurreus 
and  Goran  Persson  to  the  priests  of  Upland, whom  they  moved 
about  at  discretion,  it  was  not  a  single  case  or  words  only  that 
awakened  fears  and  complaints  of  the  intention  of  introdu 
cing  a  new  faith  into  the  land. 

This  doctrinal  controversy  brought  the  Swedish  church 
into  a  clearer  consciousness  of  its  close  affinity  with  the 
evangelical  Lutheran  confession.  It  became  necessary  to 
prove  this  affinity,  not  merely  in  comparison,  as  hitherto, 
with  the  Roman,  but  with  the  Calvinistic  church ;  and  as 
far  as  the  expressions  of  the  king  and  her  theological  writers 
could  be  considered  as  those  of  the  church  of  Sweden,  she 
had  expressly  announced  "  her  teaching  and  public  worship 
to  be  conformable  to  the  principles  and  views  of  Martin 
Luther."  Until  this  period  the  Swedish  church  was  prot- 
testant  as  opposed  to  the  Roman  ;  henceforth  she  was  evan 
gelical  Lutheran  as  opposed  to  the  reformed  church,  as  that 
term  was  technically  applied.  But,  thirty  years  were  yet 
to  roll  away,  amid  severe  trials  of  faith  and  controversies, 
before  the  work  could  be  graced  with  full  completion. 

Simultaneously  with  the  contest  against  the  sacramcnta- 
rians,  arose  another  cause  of  agitation,  which,  though  at 
first  view  it  may  appear  insignificant,  had  a  close  connec 
tion  with  the  other,  gave  rise  to  a  similar  train  of  inquiries, 


REFORMATION   IN   SWEDEN.  363 

and  had  the  same  result  of  knitting  stronger  the  bond  be 
tween  the  Swedish  church  and  the  German  or  Lutheran 
reformation. 

From  the  year  1544,  the  laity  generally  partook  of  the  cup 
at  the  administration  of  the  holy  communion,  and  there  was, 
therefore,  an  increased  demand  for  wine  in  that  sacra 
ment.  But  the  supply  not  corresponding  to  the  demand,  it 
was  proposed,  at  least  from  the  time  that  zealous  puritanism 
found  fault  with  the  sanctity  and  reverence  entertained  for 
the  ordinance  and  it  was  probably  in  some  places  the  prac 
tice,  to  substitute  for  wine  some  other  element,  such  as 
water,  mead,  or  cherry  juice.  In  view  of  this  purpose  or 
practice,  it  was  ordained,  at  a  council  held  at  Stockholm,  in 
1562,  that  no  other  liquid  but  wine  should  be  used,  since 
there  ought  not  to  be  a  deviation  from  the  institution  of 
Christ.  If  there  was  no  supply  of  wine,  the  Lord's  supper 
should  be  deferred,  and  at  their  visitation  the  sick  should 
be  comforted  with  God's  word.  On  the  breaking  out  of  the 
war  with  Denmark,  in  1563,  and  the  surrender  of  Elfsborg 
to  the  Danes,  the  supply  of  wine  was  still  further  diminish 
ed,  so  that  commotions  and  discontents  began  to  arise  in 
Upper  Sweden.  The  archbishop,  in  consequence,  set  forth, 
on  February  14,  1564,  an  address  to  the  clergy  of  his  dio 
cese,  to  instruct  the  people  that  the  matter  of  greatest  moment 
was  to  put  their  trust  in  the  merits  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  that 
the  sacrament,  when  it  could  not  be  enjoyed  according  to  the 
institution  of  Christ,  might  be  dispensed  with  without  dan 
ger  to  the  soul.  The  custom  of  using  anything  but  wine 
should  the  less  be  countenanced  and  allowed,  as  such  a  cus 
tom  would  tend  to  spread  the  irreverence  which  the 
sacramentarians  showed  for  the  holy  supper  of  the  Lord. 
King  Erik,  who  was  heedful  of  these  commotions,  summon 
ed,  during  the  following  month,  the  archbishop,  with  the 
bishops  of  Strangness  and  Westerns,  to  deliberate  at  Stock 
holm  on  the  subject.  Lauren  tins  Petri  maintained  the  opin- 


364  HISTORY    OB'    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

ion  he  had  already  expressed,  but  allowed  that  the  wine 
might  with  propriety  be  mixed  with  water.  The  other 
view,  that  the  most  important  consideration  was  the  distri 
bution  of  the  sacrament,  in  which  any  element  might  be 
used,  was  maintained  by  Johan  Ofeg,  who,  the  previous 
year,  became  bishop  of  Westerns,  after  his  intimacy  with 
Beurreus,  who  dedicated  to  him  the  above-mentioned  work 
against  the  archbishop.  The  king  gave  on  the  question  the 
brief  order,  that  the  bishops  should,  on  peril  of  losing  their 
office,  take  heed  that  no  further  complaints  were  made  of 
the  sacrament  not  being  administered. 

Hence  arose  the  so-called  liquoristic  controversy.  On 
his  return  home  from  Stockholm,  Ofeg  published  a  pam 
phlet  in  conformity  with  the  opinions  he  had  expressed  at 
Stockholm,  and  which  he  pretended  to  be  generally  recog 
nized  and  acknowledged.  The  sacrament  was  not  to  be 
administered  with  water,  except  in  case  of  the  want  of 
wine.  This  had  been  sometimes  practised  in  the  ancient 
primitive  church.  Priests  ought  not  to  be  deprived  of  their 
Christian  liberty,  which  Ofeg  did  not  think  consisted  in 
omitting  the  sacrament,  but  in  the  right  to  give  and  receive 
it  in  other  visible  elements  than  those  in  which  it  was  insti 
tuted  by  Christ.  There  would  otherwise  result  a  depend 
ence  upon  those  who,  by  denying  or  hindering  access  to 
wine,  or  stopping  its  supply,  might  wish  to  exclude  the  in 
habitants  of  Sweden  from  the  use  of  the  sacrament. 

Laurentius  Petri  was  not  the  man  to  let  a  cause  drop,  in 
which  conscience  or  conviction  constrained  him  to  take  a 
decisive  stand.  When  the  pastoral  letter  of  Ofeg  came  to 
his  knowledge,  he  issued  one  of  a  like  kind  to  the  priests  of 
Fjerdhundra,  or  the  part  of  his  diocese  bordering  on  that  of 
Ofeg,  and  warned  jthem  not  to  be  led  into  error.  The  con 
clusion  at  Stockholm  had  not  been  such  as  Ofeg  represented. 
The  ancient  church  had  never  used  water  instead  of  wine. 
Liberty  consisted  in  the  omission  of  the  sacrament.  "  It  is  a 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  365 

miserable  liberty  which  binds  us  to  necessity,"  and  "  God  is 
wont  not  to  give  into  the  hands  of  their  enemies  the  people 
who  obey  him." 

In  the  answer  he  gave,  Ofeg  partly  recalled  his  former  ex 
pressions.  The  king  made  application  on  thia  topic  to 
D.  Chytrseus,  of  Rostock,  and  desired  his  opinion.  Before 
the  opinion  arrived,  the  Swedish  bishops  and  priests  assem 
bled  at  the  diet  of  Stockholm,  in  April,  1565,  prepared  and 
subscribed  a  paper,  in  which,  on  the  authority  of  holy 
Scripture,  the  church's  prescription,  and  the  sense  of  the 
Fathers  and  inore  modern  theologians,  the  use  of  anything 
but  wine  in  the  holy  communion,  is  declared  inadmissible. 
Even  Johan  Ofeg  subscribed  this  declaration,  and  recanted 
his  former  opinion,  which  seems  never  afterward  to  have 
found  a  defender. 

The  archbishop,  now  near  seventy  years  old,  wearied  not, 
by  his  speech,  and  writings,  and  acts,  in  conducting  the 
church  through  the  perils  with  which  she  appeared  to  him 
to  be  menaced.  The  time  was  near,  when,  as  he  hoped,  its  dis 
cipline  should  be  established  by  law.  He  approximated  the 
Swedish  church,  although  always  avouching  its  indepen 
dence,  to  the  evangelical  Lutheran  ;  as  it  now  seemed  to 
him  necessary  to  declare  himself  openly  for  one  or  other  of 
the  great  leading  church  parties.  The  controversies  in 
which  he  was  engaged,  and  their  results,  may  be  briefly  de 
scribed  in  his  own  words.  "  On  the  first  appearance  of  the 
reformers,  every  man  was  inclined,  nay  more  than  inclined, 
to  injure  and  crush  them.  One  would  say,  that  he  could 
risk  on  them  an  old  wash-room ;  another,  an  old  barn  ; 
another,  so  many  loads  of  firewood,  so  much  turf,  peat,  or 
birch,  with  other  like  expressions  of  contempt.  It  was 
thought  much  money  could  not  be  better  bestowed,  than  in 
helping  to  extirpate  from  the  earth  such  cursed  heretics, 
(that  was  the  expression),  and  noxious  men.  It  was,  as 
our  Lord  Christ  said  to  his  disciples,  the  time  cometh  when 


366  HISTORY    OF    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

whosoever  killeth  you  shall  think  he  doeth  God  service. 
This  all  know  and  can  certify,  who  are  old  enough  and  can 
remember  what  occurred  six-and-forty  years  or  more  agone, 
when  God's  pure  word  was  here  first  proclaimed,  through 
speech  and  writing,  by  my  blessed  brother,  master  Olof 
Petri,  and  those  others  who  were  with  him  in  the  righteous 
cause.  These  things  are  not  now  recalled  from  any  vain 
glory,  as  God  is  witness,  still  less  as  a  reproach  to  any 
party.  For  it  is  well  known,  that  here,  as  everywhere  else, 
it  has  come  to  pass,  rather  from  foolishness  than  malice  pre 
pense,  that  they  who  would  advance  God's  word  have  be 
fore  all  others  suffered,  as  well  in  the  present  time  as  for 
merly.  For  now  that  the  people,  through  God's  grace,  ha\  ft 
come  to  some  better  understanding,  and  the  outcry  raised 
by  the  papists  is  thought  to  be  silenced,  and  the  preachers 
have  obtained  some  little  quiet  on  that  side,  a  new  storm 
arises  from  another  quarter,  not  less  violent  than  the  former, 
as  too  often  happens  in  this  world.  The  foe  comes  again  in 
his  wrath,  and  smites  us  on  the  other  side.  Watchful,  as 
they  say,  for  spirituality  and  truth,  of  which  they  make  their 
boast,  these  men  contemn  and  decry  us  as  manifest  papists, 
because  we  cannot  approve  their  new  opinions  of  the  sacra 
ment,  and  because  our  congregations  suffer  some  of  the  cere 
monies  to  which  they  have  been  accustomed,  or  which  may 
be  used  by  the  papists,  to  remain  undisturbed.  In  foreign 
lands,  as  well  with  regard  to  ceremonies  as  doctrine,  there 
is  great  dissimilarity,  so  that  the  people  who  have  discarded 
papal  errors,  are  by  no  means  in  entire  agreement.  Each 
province,  each  principality,  in  some  places  each  city,  has  its 
peculiar  ceremonies  and  church  usages.  It  is  often  the  case 
that  the  same  custom  is  not  long  preserved,  but  changes 
take  place  almost  every  month.  I  know  nothing  better  to 
say  or  to  advise,  than  that  we  assimilate  with  the  congrega 
tions  who  follow  the  doctrine  of  doctor  Martin.  For  as  we 
have  truly  proclaimed  that  God  of  his  special  grace  has 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  367 

raised  up  that  man  "o  expose  the  hideous  errors  of  the  pope, 
and  show  u&  the  right  way,  and  as  we  have  received  his  doc 
trine  as  the  truest,  I  cannot  believe  that  we  shall  find 
any  better  church  usages  than  they  observe  who  hold  the 
same  doctrines  as  we,  that  is  doctor  Martin  and  doctor 
Philip,  hold.  For  this  the  special  reason  may  be  assigned, 
that  we  can  easily  and  with  least  offence  fall  into  those  cus 
toms,  because  between  them  and  our  own,  as  hitherto  prac 
tised,  there  is  but  little  distinction  or  difference." 


368  HISTORY    OF    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 


CHAPTER    XI. 


THE  KINGS,  GUSTAVCS  I.  ANI>  ERIK  XIV.— COMMENCEMENT  OF  KING 
JOHN  III.'s  REIGN— ECCLESIASTICAL  LAW— COUNCIL.  OP  UPSALA  IN 
1572— DAY  AND  YEAR  OP  THE  BEATH  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUREN- 
TIUS  PETRI. 


THE  improvement  of  the  church,  as  exhibited  in  Scandi 
navia  and  Germany,  aimed,  among  other  objects,  by  a 
nearer  union  between  the  church  and  state,  at  a  removal  of 
the  discord  which  had  existed,  and  which  had  been  the 
fruitful  source  of  disasters  to  both.  Some  members  of  the 
church,  who  saw  the  need  of  this  improvement,  desired  also 
through  the  temporal  power,  a  release  from  the  strain  of  that 
wide-stretched  and  deep-reaching  arm,  which  would  stifle 
all  diversities  of  opinion.  To  decide  between  the  contend 
ing  church  parties,  really  lay  in  the  hands  of  this  power,  as 
far  as  human  might  can  rule  within  the  realms  of  truth.  It 
must  either  unite  itself  to  one  of  these  parties,  and  suppress 
the  other,  or  exercise  its  decision  by  protecting  both  alike. 
This  latter  course  could  not  long  be  pursued.  A  piety  at 
once  energetic,  and  influencing  the  whole  range  of  human 
thought,  could  not  possibly  penetrate  a  civil  community 
without  some  established  ecclesiastical  confession,  and  the 
passions  were  not  always  sanctified  by  the  spirit  of  Christi 
anity,  not  always  checked  by  the  religious  element,  nor  by 
the  interests  of  the  state. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  Reformation,  its  success  could 
not  but  be  in  a  great  measure  dependent  upon  the  personal 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  369 

qualities  and  disposition  of  princes.  It  was  sustained  in 
Sweden  during  the  long  reign  of  king  Gustavus  I.,  by  his 
powerful  hand,  which  he  stretched  forth  to  this  work  in 
the  full  conviction  that  thereby  the  victory  of  the  king 
dom  of  Christ  was  advanced.  During  that  period 
protestantism  developed  itself  by  degrees,  till  the  necessity 
was  apparent  of  there  being  established  an  independent  self- 
existing  church.  This  development  was  not  consummated 
before  the  death  of  Gustavus,  at  which  time  the  hope  was 
not  yet  extinct  of  restoring  the  unity  of  the  church  under 
the  former  ecclesiastical  relations,  by  means  of  the  Triden- 
tine  decrees,  and  the  devices  of  the  Jesuits  to  save  the  tot 
tering  papacy.  Gustavus  I.,  therefore,  did  not  complete 
the  Swedish  reformation.  Pie  did  not  wish,  as  John  III. 
afterward  did,  to  be  himself  a  reformer ;  but  he  was,  and 
continued  to  be,  a  disciple  of  the  reformers,  and  in  the  dif 
ferent  progressive  steps  he  took,  and  with  increased  decision 
on  the  path  of  reformation,  he  manifested  a  growing  confi 
dence  in  the  doctrines  of  protestantism,  which  he  himself 
embraced,  and  caused  to  be  propagated  among  the  people, 
as  the  father  of  his  fatherland.  The  faults  which  may  be 
observed  in  the  means  he  employed,  and  in  his  actions,  find 
an  apology  in  the  character  of  the  era,  which  was  one  of 
great  fluctuation,  and  in  the  imperfection  that  attaches  to 
whatever  is  human,  and  from  which  no  greatness  is  exempt. 
These  faults  notwithstanding,  the  Swedish  heart  shall  not 
cease  to  bless  his  memory,  while  we  enjoy  the  light  and 
freedom  for  which  he  fought,  and  which,  in  his  days,  were 
diffused  over  our  fatherland. 

King  Gustavus,  who  died  on  Sept.  29,  1560,  was  buried 
in  the  cathedral  of  Upsala,  where  the  cross  that  had  been 
consecrated  to  the  Virgin  Mary  became  his  monument.* 

*  "  During  the  first  three  weeks  of  his  illness,"  says  Geijer,  "  he  spoke  of 
ten,  sometimes  with  wonderful  energy,  on  temporal  and  spiritual  affairs. 
The  three  following  he  passed  chiefly  in  silence,  and  as  it  seemed  in  no 

16* 


370  HISTORY    OF   THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

The  unhappy  reign  of  king  Erik  did  not  interfere  with 
the  progress  of  the  church,  which  now  acquired  both 
strength  and  vigor,  on  the  principles  which  were  followed 
during  the  later  portions  of  his  father's  time. 

But,  on  these  principles,  it  was  not  yet  determined  what 
were  the  rights  of  the  church,  and  what  the  rights  of  the 
king,  or  in  what  manner  the  king  was  to  exercise  his  influ 
ence  in  regard  to  the  former.  The  church  herself  had  not 
developed  any  definite  views  respecting  these  questions,  and 
the  fluctuating  laws  of  the  state  had  not  given  a  settled  or 
detailed  discipline  to  the  church.  The  general  principles, 
however,  may  be  regarded  as  explained  by  archbishop  Lau- 
rentius  Petri  in  many  of  his  writings,  and  among  them, 
with  a  certain  degree  of  authority,  in  his  preface  to  the 
ecclesiastical  code  of  1571.  According  to  this  preface,  the 
offices  of  temporal  princes  and  the  servants  of  the  church 
ought  not  to  be  confused  or  mixed  together,  "  as  they  had 
been  under  the  pope."  But  it  is  the  duty  of  princes  to 
watch  over  and  provide  for  the  weal  of  God's  everlasting 
kingdom,  as  well  as  their  own  temporal  and  perishable 
dominions.  It  is  the  parf ,  therefore,  and  right  of  princes  to 
see  that  the  holy  word  and  gospel  of  God  be  freely  and 
without  hinderance  preached  and  spread,  that  false  and  he 
retical  doctrine  be  removed,  that  by  the  establishment  of 
good  and  Christian  schools,  furnished  with  necessary  teach 
ers,  and  properly  supported  and  protected,  the  way  may  be 

great  pain.  He  was  often  seen  to  raise  his  hands  as  in  prayer.  Having  re 
ceived  the  sacrament,  made  confession  of  his  faith,  and  taken  an  oath  of 
his  son  to  adhere  firmly  to  it,  he  beckoned  for  writing  materials  ;  but  his 
trembling  hand  had  not  power  to  finish  the  sentence  begun.  The  con 
fessor  continued  his  exhortations,  till,  as  life  was  flying,  Steno  Lejonhuf- 
vud  interrupted  him  by  saying,  '  All  that  you  talk  is  in  vain,  for  our  lord 
heareth  no  more.'  Thereupon  the  priest  bent  down  to  the  ear  of  the  dy 
ing  man  and  said,  '  If  thou  believe  in  Jesus  Christ,  and  hear  my  voice> 
give  us  some  sign  thereof.'  To  the  amazement  of  all,  the  king  answer 
ed  with  a  loud  voice,  '  Yes !'  This  was  his  last  br»ath,  at  eight  of  the 
clock  in  the  morning."— Tracts. 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  371 

prepared  for  obtaining  learned  and  Christian  preachers,  and 
that  provision  be  made  for  the  sick  and  poor  by  the  found 
ing  of  almhouses  and  hospitals.  For  these  objects  princes 
should  issue  suitable  ordinances  and  make  laws. 

As  yet  there  was  no  need,  or  perhaps  no  opportunity,  to 
determine  and  settle  these  principles,  while  merely  the  papal 
tenets  and  the  abuses  of  the  Roman  church  were  considered 
as  "  the  false  and  heretical  doctrine."  But  when,  as  we 
have  seen,  in  king  Erik's  time,  variant  protestant  views  be 
gan  to  contend  for  supremacy,  the  need  became  more  appa 
rent  of  a  settled  and  determinate  ecclesiastical  confession, 
which  the  temporal  prince  was  to  protect  and  defend. 
Then  the  king  and  men  of  the  church  united  in  the  recog 
nition  of  the  evangelical  Lutheran  doctrine.  But  soon  the 
exigence  arose,  of  a  dissonance  between  the  king  and  men 
of  the  church,  on  the  question  what  was  the  creed  of  the 
church,  or  the  confession  which  should  claim  support  and 
protection. 

This  dissonance  concerned  the  very  dogmas  of  faith.  A 
like  uncertainty  attended  the  limits  of  the  church's  privile 
ges  and  independence.  Bishops  and  priests  were  placed  or 
displaced  by  the  kings  without  election,  or  verdict  of  church 
authority,  and  after  the  reduction  of  the  church's  property, 
the  incomes  of  her  officers  depended  on  the  pleasure  of 
the  king.  Whether  he  acted  in  these  matters  by  virtue 
of  the  church's  commission,  or  by  virtue  of  the  rights 
of  the  civil  community ;  whether  the  payment  of  salaries 
was  to  be  considered  as  a  management  of  the  church's 
wealth,  or  as  an  application  of  the  revenues  of  the  state 
to  church  purposes,  were  points  left  undetermined.  The 
king  appeared  to  possess  within  the  commonwealth,  the 
rights  and  duties  toward  the  priestly  vocation,  which  the 
father  of  a  family  has  within  his  own  house.  The  king 
had,  therefore,  sometimes  in  days  of  yore,  addressed  words 
of  spiritual  admonition  and  warning  to  his  people,  and  the 


372  HISTORY    OP   THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

long-continued  pious  custom,  for  the  kings  of  Sweden  to 
summon  their  people  to  the  observance  of  days  of  penance 
or  thanksgiving,  either  yearly  or  on  extraordinary  occasions, 
was  renewed  under  the  new  order  of  things  in  the  year 
1544,  a  year  so  significant  in  regard  to  church  reformation. 
The  custom,  however,  was  ancient,  and  thus  the  priestly 
nature  of  the  royal  sentence  and  decision  was  a  maxim  in 
the  Christian  church.  King  Gustavus  refers  to  "  the  good 
old  and  Christian  way,"  and  in  Sweden  it  had  formerly 
occurred,  that  when  God's  judgments  of  death  visited  the 
land,  her  kings  had  summoned  their  people  to  mourn  for 
their  sins  and  do  penance. 

When  Erik,  eight  years  after  the  death  of  his  father,  was 
hurled  from  the  throne,  the  royal  sceptre  of  Sweden  was 
taken  by  John  III.  Like  his  brother,  he  had  received  a 
careful  education.  His  disposition  was  peculiarly  adapted 
to  quiet  meditation.  When  a  youth  of  twenty,  he  was  ad 
monished  by  his  father  for  his  dreams  of  solitude.  The  eyes 
of  mankind  were  fastened  on  the  church,  and  circumstances 
conspired  to  turn  the  attention  of  John  on  the  points  of 
faith  which  divided  the  world,  and  on  the  means  of  restor 
ing  unity.  The  question,  whether  it  was  unavoidable  that 
the  outward  unity  of  the  church  must  be  dissolved,  pressed 
heavily  on  many  hearts.  At  the  moment  when  that  unity 
seemed  irretrievably  lost,  John  had  seen  in  England,  in 
1559,  the  still  fresh  tracks  of  the  bloody  domination  of  the 
Roman  church  under  queen  Mary,  and  the  first  expiatory 
movements  under  Elizabeth.  In  Sweden,  he  was  a  witness 
to  the  disorders  created  by  Calvinism,  which  he  could  con 
template  with  the  more  observant  eye,  as  the  storm  raged 
around  the  walls  of  his  prison.  His  imprisonment  of  four 
years,  was  shared  by  his  wife,*  who  belonging  to  the 

*  This  woman,  when  Dffered  a  princely  maintenance  on  condition  of 
parting  from  her  husband,  made  answer,  by  pointing  to  her  wedding-ring 
•with  its  Latin  inscription  :  "  Naught  but  death." — Tr. 


REFORMATION   IN    SWEDEN.  373 

church  of  Rome  had  an  aversion  to  the  faith  and  worship 
of  Sweden ;  and  the  opportunities  for  comparing  the  shades 
of  religion  were  the  oftener  presented,  as  he  sometimes  was 
obliged  to  be  his  wife's  comforter,  when  her  priest  was 
occasionally  denied  access  to  the  prison.  There  was  also 
now  leisure  for  study,  and  now  were  those  plans  formed 
which  were  productive  of  well  nigh  twenty  years  of  strife, 
during  the  king's  persevering  efforts  to  give  the  Reformed 
faith  a  new  shape. 

These  plans  had  not  come  to  maturity,  nor  been  put  in 
execution,  during  the  first  five  years  of  king  John's  reign, 
although  the  news  of  them  began  to  be  spread.  The 
Roman  church  was  at  this  time  scarcely  tolerated.  King 
Erik  was  not  its  friend.  At  the  time  of  his  courtship  of 
Mary  Stuart  of  Scotland,  it  did  not  escape  him,  that  she 
was  attached  to  the  Roman  church.  He  did  not  doubt,  as 
he  declares,  that  she  would  embrace  the  same  faith  as  he  ; 
but  his  ambassador  to  Scotland  is  enjoined  to  ascertain  what 
queen  Mary  thought  of  the  ecclesiastical  changes  that  had 
taken  place  in  Sweden,  and  ascertain  what  was  the  real 
state  and  position  of  the  Scottish  church.  The  ambassa 
dor  replied,  that  the  queen  was  a  papist,  and  it  was  not 
likely  she  would  abandon  her  creed.  A  counsellor,  whose 
name  is  not  known,  dissuaded  the  king  from  proceeding 
further,  because  the  French  kinsmen  of  Mary  would  not 
give  their  consent,  unless  in  the  hope  of  thereby  restoring 
Sweden  to  the  "  papal  idolatry."  That  year,  duke  John 
married  a  Roman  Catholic  princess.  He  promised,  on  that 
occasion,  that  he  would  put  no  constraint  on  his  wife  with 
regard  to  her  faith ;  but  he  also  required,  on  his  part,  that 
he  should  not  be  obliged  to  partake  of  the  eucharist  accord 
ing  to  the  Roman  usage,  at  the  time  of  the  marriage  rite, 
but  be  allowed  to  continue  its  reception  according  to  the  cus 
tom  conformable  with  the  Augsburg  confession. 

After  the  breaking  out  of  the  civil  war  in  15G8,  king 


374  HISTORY    OP    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

Erik  complained  of  his  brother  as  one  who  desired  to  intro 
duce  the  doctrine  of  the  Calvinists,  and  was  a  contemner  of 
the  holy  word  and  sacrament  of  God.  But  this  accusation, 
which  was  designed  to  attract  ill  will  to  his  adversary  dur 
ing  the  strifes  which  the  Calvinistic  controversy  provoked, 
is  deserving  of  little  respect ;  and  the  same  may  be  said  of 
another  charge,  which  the  same  Erik,  at  the  same  time, 
made  against  his  brother,  that  he  was  a  papist.  This 
charge  had  then,  as  subsequently,  little  foundation. 

The  power  which  his  father  and  brother  exercised  in  the 
church,  John  had  no  mind  to  surrender.  In  respect  to  the 
property  of  the  church,  his  acts  were  as  arbitrary  as  those 
of  king  Gustavus.  At  the  commencement  of  his  reign,  for 
example,  he  ordered  his  steward  to  transfer  to  the  king's 
farm  at  Upsala,  the  cattle  which  were  found  with  the 
priests  of  Upland.  The  glebe  farms  which  the  priests  in 
the  diocese  of  Skara  cultivated  were,  in  1571,  revoked  to 
the  crown.  The  steward  of  Helsingland  was  directed  to 
take  and  register  to  the  king's  account  the  superfluous 
silver  which  remained  in  the  churches  of  that  district. 
In  other  respects,  also,  the  king  proceeded  in  the  same 
arbitrary  manner. 

Outwardly,  the  church  retained  the  same  order  and 
constitution  in  the  beginning  of  king  John  III.'s  reign, 
as  previously,  except  that  the  division  of  dioceses  made 
by  king  Gustavus  ceased  to  operate,  that  the  sees  of  Lin- 
koping  and  Skara  were  filled  by  new  men,  the  former  by 
Martinus  Olai  from  1571,  and  the  latter  from  1570,  by 
Jacobus  Johannis,  previously  the  ordinarius  of  Orebro ; 
and  that  Gottland,  Jemtland,  and  the  Herjedalcn,  were 
severed  from  the  Swedish  church,  in  1570,  when,  at  the 
peace  of  Stettin,  Sweden  relinquished  all  spiritual  jurisdic 
tion  over  those  provinces.  The  church  of  Gottland,  which, 
from  1527,  had  been  left  almost  without  care,  had,  in  1572, 
a  superintendent  of  its  own  placed  there  by  the  king  of 


REFORMATION   IN    SWEDEN.  375 

Denmark.     Jemtland  and  Herjedalen  were  attached,  as  we 
suppose,  to  the  see  of  Trondhem. 

King  Erik  had,  in  the  beginning  of  his  reign,  proposed 
changes  in  the  usages  of  the  church,  which  seemed   near 
enough  to  the  papal.     King  John  published,  at  his  coro 
nation  in  15G9,  some  articles,  which  manifested  his  deter 
mination  to  maintain  discipline  and  good  order  among  the 
clergy.      The  dress  of    priests  ought  to  be  grave  and  de 
cent  ;  the  king  would  not  tolerate  in  them  levity  or  luxury, 
but    their    manners    ought    to  correspond  with    their  doc 
trine,  and  their    apparel  with    their  office  and    character. 
Drunkards,   and  the  unchaste,  they  who  were  disobedient 
to  their    bishops,  they  who  through  dishonest    means  ob 
tained    preferment,    they  who    inflicted    too    severely    the 
censures  of  the  church  for  temporal  gain,  were  to  be  re 
moved  from  office.     Bishops  ought  not  to  ordain  as  priests 
any  but  such,    as  on  strict    inquiry,    were  found  by  their 
eloquence    and    intelligence    adequate    to    the    office.     No 
priest  was  to  obtain  a  king's  benefice  without  the  recom 
mendation  and  testimony  of   his  bishop.      Other  benefices 
the    bishops  were  to  fill.     These  were  admonished  not  to 
neglect    preaching  in  cathedrals,  and  visiting  the    congre 
gations  ;    and  they  were    authorized    to    fix,  probably  out 
the  church  tithes,  as  large  a  sum  for  country  churches,  as 
was  needed    to  build  them  and  to    purchase    the  commu 
nion  wine.     The  widows  of  priests,  were  to  inherit  half 
the  dwelling-house,    and  the    taxes  of   priests  were  to  be 
proportioned  to  their  incomes. 

The  aged  archbishop  might  hope,  under  this  king,  to 
issue  the  general  church  regulations  by  which  he  had  long 
wished  to  settle  the  church's  condition.  Of  the  necessity 
of  this  measure,  he  had  often  reminded  Gustavus  I.,  and 
laid  before  him  a  project  of  the  kind  ;  but  the  matter  had 
come  to  no  result.  At  the  council  of  Arboga,  in  1561, 
king  Erik  reminded  the  clergy  of  the  need  of  a  revision  of 


876  HISTORY  or  THE  ECCLESIASTICAL 

the  chapter  of  church  law ;  but  the  clergy,  who  acknowl 
edged  the  need,  at  that  time  answered,  fearing  the  too 
strong  pressure  of  Calvinism  on  the  church,  that  "  the  time 
and  the  hour"  were  not  yet  come.  The  archbishop  in 
forms  us,  that,  in  the  beginning  of  the  year  1563,  he  submit 
ted  to  the  king  his  project  of  church  law.  It  is  probable 
that  the  influence  of  Beurreus  then  prevented  the  royal  ac 
ceptance,  and  the  disorders  of  the  following  year  did  not 
permit  the  matter  to  be  further  considered.  The  bishops, 
each  in  his  own  diocese,  set  forth  rules  of  conduct  and 
order,  agreeably  to  the  authority  committed  to  them.  These 
rules  were  in  their  general  features  the  same,  partly  because 
they  were  based  on  certain  generally  recognized  principles 
and  decrees,  but  still  more,  because  of  the  growing  influence 
of  the  archbishop  with  whom  they  originated,  whose  age 
and  experience,  learning  and  wisdom,  gave  additional  weight 
to  the  official  position  he  held  as  the  foremost  in  an  of  the 
church.  The  church  was  thus,  at  the  close  of  king  Gus- 
tavus's  reign,  to  a  great  extent  united  in  ecclesiastical  cus 
toms,  as  she  was  harmonious  in  faith.  Amid  the  confusions 
with  which  king  Erik's  reign  began,  amid  the  vociferous 
clamors  for  a  change  in  doctrine  and  discipline  which  were 
now  raised,  and  which  it  was  feared  would  win  the  king's 
approbation,  the  church,  beginning  to  feel  herself  the 
stronger  after  the  first  shock,  drew  more  closely  around 
Laurentius  Petri.  She  did  so  with  the  more  affection, 
in  proportion  as  the  need  of  purity  in  doctrine,  unity  in  dis 
cipline,  and  agreement  in  the  rights  and  privileges  of  the 
church,  was  felt. 

The  church  rules  and  ordinances,  composed  by  Lauren 
tius  Petri,  were  at  once  diffused  by  means  of  pamphlets,  and 
were  regarded  as  current  law,  until,  as  was  expected,  it 
should  receive  public  confirmation  from  the  authorities  of 
church  and  state.  But  while  they  who  deviated  from  this 
law  were  unfavorably  regarded  as  opponents  of  pure  faith, 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  377 

good  order,  and  desirable  unity,  they  had  the  valid  excuse 
of  its  defective  recognition  as  a  law  established;  and,  as 
laws  should  be  easily  accessible,  king  John  commanded  that 
after  it  had  been  sufficiently  examined  by  the  bishops  and 
other  ecclesiastics,  it  should  be  printed,  and  that  afterward, 
all,  under  a  due  penalty,  should  conform  themselves  to  its 
requirements  in  all  matters  that  concerned  the  church. 

The  king's  pleasure  and  command,  is  only  known  to  us, 
through  the  archbishop's  preface  attached  to  this  church 
code,  which  in  1571  was  put  to  press.  That  it  wras  inspect 
ed  and  examined  by  John  111.  himself  is  probable  ;  more 
so,  than  what  was  pretended  by  its  opponents,  that  he 
struck  out  some  articles  that  displeased  him,  and  that  he 
persuaded  the  archbishop  to  introduce  others  which  the 
prelate  himself  did  not  approve.  Nothing  is  to  be  there 
found,  that  is  not  in  entire  harmony  with  Laurentius  Petri's 
other  writings  and  acts,  and  with  his  known  principles  and 
views. 

His  preface  opens  with  a  defence  of  what  he  previously 
advanced  respecting  the  church's  freedom  and  independence 
of  the  judgment  of  foreigners  in  regulating  Jier  own  inter 
nal  relations.  That  all  would  be  satisfied  was  not  to  be 
hoped,  "  for  where  at  any  time  will  any  man  be  found  so 
happy  as  to  give  satisfaction  to  all  ?"  He  foresaw  that  the 
papists  would  find  this  church  code  not  to  be  Catholic,  and 
that  the  sacramentarians  would  regard  it  as  popish ;  but  he 
rejoiced  in  the  conviction  that  it  was  conformable  to 
"  sound  reason  and  the  wrord  of  God." 

That  the  holy  word  of  God  in  the  Old  and  New  Testa 
ments  was  the  church's  supreme  law  wras  pre-supposed,  and 
the  preaching  of  this  word  was  declared  to  be  the  most 
important  duty  of  the  church. 

Bishops  were  appointed,  and  enjoined  to  watch  over  the 
discipline  of  the  church.  Their  office  has  not  an  immediate 
divine  establishment,  but  wras  early  introduced  for  the  sake 


378  HISTORY    OF   THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

of  order ;  and  "  as  this  discipline  is  very  useful,  and  without 
doubt  proceeded  from  the  Holy  Ghost,  the  giver  of  all  good 
gifts,  so  was  it  generally  current  and  received  over  the  whole 
of  Christendom,  and  thus  it  has  been  and  must  be  as  long 
as  the  world  stands ;  but  abuses  nevertheless  are  to  be  re 
moved.  Bishops  shall  be  elected  by  some  of  the  clergy  ap 
pointed  for  that  purpose,  and  others  experienced  in  the  sub 
ject,  who  are  to  present  the  elect  person  to  receive  the  con 
firmation  of  the  prince.  He  is  after  that,  .clothed  in  a  sur 
plice  and  cope,  to  be  consecrated  by  a  bishop,  but  without 
the  use  of  ointment. 

Seven  cathedrals  of  the  kingdom  were  to  be  kept  up,  and 
in  each  of  them  to  be  settled,  besides  the  bishop,  six  per 
sons,  the  bishop's  official  or  provost,  the  pastor  of  the 
church,  a  schoolmaster,  a  reader  of  theology,  a  penitentiary, 
and  a  proctor.  That  these,  besides  their  own  particular 
duties,  should  participate  in  the  bishop's  care  of  the  diocese, 
was  not  mentioned.  To  the  bishop  it  appertained,  to  watch 
over  the  doctrine  and  manners  of  the  priests,  over  the  edu 
cation  and  morals  of  the  people,  over  schools,  hospitals,  and 
wards  of  the  sjck.  He  was  to  visit  his  diocese  yearly,  with 
one  or  two  of  the  clergy,  and  if  he  was  himself  prevented, 
to  send  his  provost  or  official.  He  might  call  to  his  assist 
ance,  as  was  hitherto  usual,  the  provosts  of  the  district, 
whom  he  might  select  from  among  the  most  competent 
priests. 

For  the  settlement  of  parish  priests,  the  immediate  call  of 
the  congregation  was  required  ;  but  if  the  congregation 
could  not  find  any  to  take  the  office,  or  if  he  that  was  called 
should  prove  unfit,  the  bishop  was  to  appoint  another. 

No  one  shall  exercise  the  office  of  a  preacher,  before 
being  openly,  in  the  congregation,  ordained  thereto,  by  the 
laying  on  of  hands  and  prayer,  "  for  as  the  Holy  Ghost, 
without  whom  this  office  can  in  no  wise  be  exercised,  is 
wont,  by  such  means  to  be  given,  it  would  be  great 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  379 

temerity  in  any  one  to  despise  those  means,  especially  since 
it  has  been  customary  so  to  do  from  the  Apostles'  times." 

The  sentence  of  the  church  which  it  was  declared  should 
not  extend  to  the  life  or  goods  of  any  man,  but  only  to  ex 
communication  or  spiritual  concerns,  might  be  pronounced 
and  put  in  force  by  any  pastor  of  a  church.  Country 
priests  were  to  refer  the  more  weighty  cases  to  the  bishop, 
if  the  case  admitted  of  delay.  As  prayers,  fasts,  alms,  might 
be  imposed  as  church  penance,  it  was  merely  said,  that  there 
should  be  no  abuse  connected  with  their  imposition.  Igno 
minious  punishments,  such  as  standing  naked  before  the 
church  door,  or  being  manacled,  should  only  be  used  in  the 
case  of  atrocious  criminals.  He  who  audaciously  refused  to 
submit  to  his  church  penance,  was  to  be  punished  severely 
by  the  temporal  arm.  He  who  remained  longer  than  a  year 
under  the  ban  of  the  church,  was  to  be  dealt  with  accord 
ing  to  the  chapter  of  general  ecclesiastical  law. 

This  church  discipline  rested  on  the  same  principles  with 
the  whole  Swedish  ecclesiastical  reformation,  the  desire  in 
every  possible  way  to  avoid  all  novelty,  and  solely  by  the 
manifest  word  of  God  in  holy  Scripture  to  test  the  doctrine, 
institutions,  and  church  usages  previously  existing,  rejecting 
what  was  inconsistent  with  that  word,  but  retaining  what 
with  a  good  conscience  could  be  retained. 

King  John  desired  this  church  law  to  be  acknowledged 
and  recognized  by  the  clergy  in  a  church  council.  This 
must  have  been  still  more  the  wish  of  the  archbishop ;  the 
rather,  as  according  to  a  contemporaneous  author,  a  report 
began  to  be  circulated  of  a  threatened  alteration  of  the 
church  customs  and  usages. 

Another  reason  for  this  desire,  was  the  controversy  that 
again  sprang  up  respecting  the  allowablenessof  the  marriage 
of  cousins-german.  One  of  the  first  nobles  of  the  kingdom, 
Erik  Gustafsson  Stenbock,  as  there  was  an  obstacle  in 
Sweden  to  his  marriage  with  his  cousin-german,  had  been 


380  HISTORY    OP   THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

married  by  a  Danish  clergyman  within  the  limits  of  Hal- 
land.  But  in  Sweden,  where  such  a  union  was  generally 
disapproved,  as  coming  within  the  prohibited  degrees  of 
affinity,  the  case  caused  remark  and  scandal,  and  it  was  not 
to  be  supposed  that  archbishop  Lars,  who  would  not  yield  in 
a  similar  case  which  concerned  his  king,  should  more  easily 
grant  another  the  liberty  which  he  considered  as  opposed  to 
the  word  of  God.  To  no  purpose  was  an  opinion  procured 
from  the  theologians  and  jurists  of  Rostock,  that  such  a 
union  was  aUowable.  Of  the  same  opinion  were  one  or 
more  of  the  Swedish  bishops.  The  commotions  which 
hence  arose,  were  urged  as  one  of  the  strongest  reasons  for 
a  council. 

King  John  proclaimed  the  council,  for  the  assembling  of 
which  many  obstacles  concurred.  The  first  was,  that  it 
was  to  be  opened  at  Upsala,  on  the  15th  of  June.  But  a 
fire  on  the  23d  of  April  destroyed  the  cathedral  of  that  city 
and  part  of  the  city  itself,  so  that  Stockholm  was  then  ap 
pointed  as  the  place  of  meeting.  But,  as  there  again  a 
plague  was  prevailing,  the  king  left  it  to  the  archbishop, 
bishops,  and  heads  of  the  clergy,  to  call  together  the  council 
at  Upsala,  Westeras,  or  where  they  would.  The  17th  of 
August  was  named  as  the  day,  and  the  deliberations  com 
menced  on  the  18th  of  that  month,  in  Upsala.  The  king 
was  not  present.  The  assembly  was  not  numerous.  Of  the 
bishops,  those  of  Wexio  and  Abo  were  absent,  though  the 
former  was  represented.  Of  provosts,  pastors  of  churches, 
and  administrators  of  schools,  there  were  thirty  in  number, 
as  recorded,  but  many  other  clergyman  made  their  appear 
ance.  For  the  first  time  the  academy  of  Upsala  is  here 
seen  to  take  part  in  the  public  affairs  of  the  church  and- 
fiitherland,  being  represented  by  its  rector  and  two  profes 
sors,  who  participated  in  this  council. 

After  the  usual  opening  with  prayer,  and  an  address  from 
the  archbishop,  who  explained  the  nature  of  church  coun- 


REFORMATION   IN   SWEDEN.  381 

cils,  their  various  objects,  and  causes  of  being  assembled, 
the  question  of  marriage  within  the  degrees  of  affinity  was 
first  discussed.  The  stricter  interpretation  of  the  divine 
law  triumphed,  and  bishop  Marten  of  Linkoping  recanted, 
and  deprecated  his  inconsiderateness  in  the  case.  Ceremo 
nies,  church  punishments,  and  the  like  topics,  were  then 
discussed.  The  need  of  a  fixed  and  precise  confession  of 
faith  was  acknowledged,  but  no  question  appears  to  have 
been  brought  before  the  meeting,  as  to  the  receiving  and 
adopting  that  of  Augsburg,  "  although  the  archbishop  prom 
ised  to  give  one  according  to  that  pattern." 

The  decree  of  the  council  was  drawn  up  by  bishop  Mar 
ten,  and  on  the  22 d  of  August  was  subscribed.  It  was  de 
sired,  so  runs  the  document,  to  abide  henceforth,  as  hither 
to,  by  the  pure  Christian  doctrine  contained  in  the  writings 
of  the  prophets  and  apostles,  and  which  has  been  preached 
"  here  in  this  kingdom  for  some  time."  It  was  desired  that 
what  belongs  to  probity,  discipline,  and  good  customs, 
should  be  promoted,  and  what  is  contrary  to  them  taken 
away.  It  was  desired  that  the  sanctity  of  the  ties  of  blood 
should  not  be  rent  in  marriage.  The  union  therefore  be 
tween  cousins-german,  as  contrary  to  the  law  of  nature  and 
of  God,  was  not  to  be  allowed,  notwithstanding  that  some 
where  in  foreign  lands  there  was  another  teaching  and  prac 
tice.  It  was  also  decided  to  abide  by  the  ceremonies. and 
church  usages  hitherto  customary  in  Swedish  congregations, 
and  now  settled  by  the  church  ordinances  set  forth  in 
print. 

The  doctrine  and  discipline  which  had  been  current  at  the 
close  of  king  Gustavus's  reign,  and  had  continued  amid  the 
conflicts  of  king  Erik  XIV. 's  administration,  were  now  con 
firmed,  and,  as  was  believed,  the  church  was  unanimous  in 
her  purpose  henceforth  to  guard  them.  This  council  was 
the  crowning  glory,  the  lustrous  star,  in  the  life  of  Lauren- 
tius  Petri,  the  seal  of  his  labor  of  forty  years.  Their  father  in 


382  HISTORY    OF   THE   ECCLESIASTICAL 

doctrine,  now  seventy  years  old,  stood  here  among  his  young 
•family,*  who,  with  reverence  and  confidence,  looked  up  to 
him.  and  listened  to  his  words.  It  was  in  the  hope  that  the 
work  was  now  completed,  that  he  cried  out :  "  Lord,  now  let- 
test  thou  thy  servant  depart  in  peace."  In  this  hope  he  re 
ceived  the  reward  of  grace,  which  God  sometimes  gives  the 
faithful  laborer,  to  see  the  glory  of  the  victory,  but  not  the 
bitterness  of  strife  whereby  it  shall  be  won.  Or,  did  he 
foresee,  that  within  a  few  years,  his  work  should  be  again 
menaced  with  ruin,  and  that  the  very  men  who  now  in  con 
cord  were  assembled  around  him,  would  be  sundered  from 
each  other  in  the  hot  conflict  of  human  passions,  and  in 
doubt  of  the  truth  itself;  some  of  them  to  be  displaced  from 
office,  imprisoned  and  exiled,  though  they  now  believed  that 
with  united  hand  they  had  perfected  the  temple  of  peace  ? 

There  were  not  wanting  prognostics  of  the  coming  storm, 
and  anxious  forebodings  that  with  the  death  of  the  venera 
ted  father  of  the  church,  troublous  times  would  come. 
These  forebodings  were  expressed  by  those  present  on  the 
touching  occasion,  when  the  archbishop,  in  his  sickness,  at 
the  close  of  the  council,  assembled  the  clergy  at  his  house, 
to  bid  them  farewell,  and  exhort  them  to  steadfastness,  for 
the  last  time  before  he  was  removed  from  among  them. 
Prognostics  in  part  were  connected  with  the  attempts  at 
changes  which  claimed  an  antiquity  to  which  they  had  no 
title,  in  part  with  the  audacity  whereby  the  Roman  church, 
which  filled  the  minds  of  men  with  awe,  on  account  of 
its  mighty  patronage,  began  to  lift  its  voice,  though  not  by 
the  tongue  of  Swedish  men.  Queen  Catharine's  chaplain, 
Johan  Herbst,  from  Poland,  in  defence  of  the  Roman 


'  It  might  be  literally  so  spoken  of  some  in  this  assembly.  Laurentius 
Petri,  Gothus  so  cal'ed,  to  distinguish  him  from  the  archbishop,  Olof  Luth, 
and  Andreae  Angerman,  famous  in  the  contests  of  after-times,  were  at  this 
time,  or  were  afterward,  married  to  the  daughters  of  the  aged  Laurentius 
Petri. 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  383 

church,  and  in  opposition  to  archbishop  Lars,  perhaps  also 
to  master  Erasmus  Nicholai,  the  king's  chaplain,  composed 
works,  whose  object  was  to  show  that  in  that  church  only 
were  to  be  found  a  valid  clergy  and  sanctifying  means  of 
grace  ;  that  the  Lord's  supper  ought  not  to  be  administered 
under  both  kinds,  and  that  the  invocation  of  saints  was  al 
lowable.  These  writings,  which  were  circulated  over  the 
land,  and  of  which  some  were  said  to  have  been  submitted 
to  Erasmus  Nicholai,  were  known  previous  to  the  council 
of  Upsala,  in  1572,  when  the  archbishop  promised  to  an 
swer  and  confute  them.  This  was  done  in  one  or  more 
works  written  against  Herbst. 

At  the  diet  of  Stockholm,  in  1573,  the  clergy  were  again 
assembled,  but  the  archbishop  was  absent,  prevented  by  the 
sickness,  which  in  a  -few  months  terminated  in  death.  The 
archbishop's  refutation  of  the  writings  of  Herbst  on  the 
Lord's  supper,  sacrifice  of  the  mass,  and  power  of  the  priest 
hood,  were  on  this  occasion,  adduced  by  Erasmus  Nicholai. 
The  king  himself  took  an  interested  and  observant  part  in 
the  examination  of  the  doctrinal  questions  at  this  council ; 
enjoined  it  upon  Marten,  of  Linkoping,  to  dispute  with 
Herbst  on  the  primacy  of  the  pope,  the  holy  Scriptures,  and 
other  points  ;  and  entered  with  much  zeal  into  the  contro 
versy  against  the  papists  opposed  to  the  bishop. 

The  epoch  when  these  transactions  occurred,  and  their 
character,  must  be  made  to  coincide  with  that  period  in  the 
life  of  the  Swedish  church,  when  the  life  also  of  Laurentius 
Petri  Nericius  closed.  He  was  taken  hence  without  being 
a  witness  of  the  strife.  "  Lord,  give  peace  in  our  days," 
were  his  last  words,  in  his  last  pastoral  letter  to  his  diocese, 
dated  April  24,  1573,  appointing  a  day  of  thanksgiving  for 
the  victory  won  at  Liffland.  His  prayer  was  heard  in  ano 
ther  sense  than  was  intended  in  those  words.  When  he 
knew  that  his  end  drew  nigh,  he  sent,  by  Erasmus  Nicholai, 
the  expression  of  his  gratitude  to  king  John,  for  that  monarch's 


384  HISTORY    OF    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

care  of  the  church,  and  implored  him  by  that  imperishable 
crown,  so  much  more  glorious  than  his  earthly,  which  he 
might  hope  to  win,  to  protect  the  Swedish  church  in  the 
purity  and  stability  it  now  had  gained.  The  good  prelate 
fell  asleep  in  the  Lord,  on  October  25th,  1573,  after  a  life 
of  seventy  years,  forty  of  which  he  had  spent  in  the  exercise 
of  his  office  as  archbishop.  He  was  buried  by  the  clergy  of 
his  diocese,  who  mourned  him  as  their  father,  in  the  choir 
of  the  cathedral  of  Upsala,  where  his  sepulchre  still  remains. 
His  long  life  had  been  rich  in  fruits,  but  not  exempt  from 
trials.  Not  a  few  of  his  troubles  resulted  from  the  relations 
he  held  towards  the  royal  house,  with  which,  by  marriage, 
he  was  distantly  connected.  In  addition  to  the  stern  and 
often  specious  domination  of  Gustavus,  the  fraternal  hate, 
and  soon  fraternal  war,  between  that  king's  sons,  caused  the 
archbishop  much  disquiet.  In  1563,  he  had  probably  united 
with  the  estates  of  the  kingdom  in  their  sentence  pronounced 
against  king  John.  He  was  present  in  Stockholm,  when, 
in  1568,  that  city  was  beleaguered  by  the  dukes  John  and 
Charles.  On  that  occasion,  some  of  king  Erik's  officers  re 
quested  his  advice  as  to  what  it  was  best  for 'them  to  do,  so 
as  to  answer  for  it  before  God.  His  reply  was  such  as  to 
make  a  distinction  between  a  defection  from  the  king  and  a 
breach  of  their  oath  of  fidelity.  Afterwards  he  took  part  in 
the  doom  of  deposition  pronounced  on  king  Erik,  and  sub 
scribed  the  sentence  which  resulted,  as  the  means  of  obvia 
ting  revolts  and  the  ruin  of  the  kingdom,  in  that  monarch's 
death. 


At  the  death  of  Laurentius  Petri.  more  than  half  a  cen 
tury  had  passed  away,  since  the  diet  of  Striingness,  which 
elevated  Gustavus  Wasa  to  the  Swedish  throne,  was  the 
occasion  of  Laurentius  Andrese's  influence  in  the  public 
affairs  of  church  and  state,  and  awakened  attention  to  Olaus 


REFORMATION  IN  SWEDEN.  385 

Petrl  and  the  preaching  of  his  disciples.  The  third  part  of 
a  century  had  now  passed  away  since  the  new  order  of 
things  had  become  more  generally  and  more  firmly  estab 
lished.  A  n«w  generation  had  sprung  up,  and  become  estab 
lished  under  new  auspices  and  relations.  In  contemplating 
these  new  and  extraordinary  events,  we  might  seek  a  justi 
fication  of  the  changes  effected,  in  the  improvement  then 
wrought  in  the  people's  manners  and  intelligence  ;  although 
the  truth  and  strength  of  God's  word  depend  not  on  human 
wisdom  or  human  agency. 

To  a  perfect  picture  of  the  character  of  the  Swedish 
church,  during  the  last  twenty  years  of  king  Gustaviis's 
times,  and  during  the  year  1573,  there  is  still  required  the 
delineation,  however  rapid,  of  its  constitutional,  scientific, 
and  moral  position.  Such  a  delineation  Avill  constitute  a 
fit  introduction  to  the  history  of  that  period,  which,  with 
the  strength  and  weapons  furnished  by  the  preceding  period, 
witnessed  the  war  of  the  church  for  truth,  -and  her  gain  of 
a  final  victory, 

17 


386  HISTORY   OF   THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 


BOOK    III. 

CHAPTER    I. 

WEDISH   CHURCH     TO    THE    YEAE    1573. 

THE  storms  of  half  a  century  had  shaken  the  church 
within  our  fatherland,  when  archbishop  Laurentius  Petri, 
the  man  who  had  deeply  impressed  on  that  church  the  stamp 
of  his  own  spirit,  passed  from  time  into  eternity.  We  wish  to 
collect  together,  or  to  present  more  fully  the  outlines  which 
seem  to  us  to  afford  an  idea  of  what  it  was,  when  in  suc 
ceeding  years  new  trials  were  encountered,  when  this  Prot 
estant  church  was  tried  by  the  attempt  to  reclaim  it  again 
to  Home,  or  at  least  reform  it  to  a  nearer  resemblance  to  the 
Roman  church. 

1.— ADMINISTRATION    OF    THE    CEURCH ;    BISHOPS  AND 
PRIESTS. 

The  change  introduced  by  king  Gustavus  in  the  church's 
condition,  by  the  division  of  dioceses,  and  the  substitution 
of  the  name  ordinary  for  bishop,  had,  as  we  have  already 
remarked,  ceased  before  the  year  15  73  to  go  into  operation  : 
so  that  the  old  sees,  witli  the  exception  of  Abo,  remained 
the  same  in  compass  as  at  the  beginning  of  the  Reformation. 
The  men  who  filled  the  new  sees  were  removed  by  king 
John,  either  to  some  episcopal  chair,  or  to  provostships, 
with  the  exception  of  Petrus  Caroli  of  Kalmar,  who  for  a 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  387 

time  fell  into  disgrace,  and  Andreas  Torchilli,  who  was  con 
tinued  as  pastor  of  JflnkT5ping. 

The  bishops  possessed  an  almost  unlimited  jurisdiction 
over  their  sees,  subject  however  to  the  oversight  which  the 
ordinantia  of  Wester^ts  conferred  on  the  king,  and  which 
king  Gustavus  in  1539  claimed  as  belonging  to  his  royalty. 
The  limitations  of  the  king's  supremacy  were  not  defined, 
and  the  rights  of  the  archbishop  as  primate  of  the  church 
remained  vacillating  and  uncertain  ;  preserved  indeed  through 
the  personal  qualities  of  Laurentius  Petri,  and  the  respect  felt 
for  him,  but  watched  with  suspicion  by  the  king.  Respecting 
the  mode  of  managing  the  common  affairs  of  the  church, 
nothing  was  yet  settled.  The  church  ordinance  of  1571, 
prescribes  yearly  meetings  of  the  clergy  in  council  within 
each  diocese,  and  the  mode  in  which  those  meetings  are  to 
be  conducted,  but  makes  no  mention  of  a  general  council  for 
the  Swedish  church,  although  such,  during  the  reigns  of 
Gustavus,  Erik,  and  John,  were  held  under  the  presidency 
of  the  archbishop.  This  church  ordinance  was  itself  adopt 
ed  by  the  clergy  at  such  a  council.  The  old  Laurentius 
Petri  had  perhaps  intentionally  passed  over  a  case  which 
he  could  not  arrange  to  his  satisfaction. 

The  deliberations  and  decrees  concerning  the  church,  were 
conducted  and  passed,  sometimes  at  the  diets  with  all  the 
estates  participating  in  them,  as  at  "Westerns  in  1527  and 
1544,  in  which  case  the  estate  of  the  clergy  was  represent 
ed  by  the  bishops  and  other  prelates.  Sometimes  church 
councils  proper  were  held,  as  at  Orebro  in  1529,  and  at  Up- 
sala  in  1572,  at  which  only  the  clergy  were  present  and  took 
part  in  matters  regarding  doctrine,  discipline  and  public 
worship,  although  the  king  had  there  a  representative ;  or 
as  at  Stockholm  in  1573,  where  he  personally  participated 
in  the  council.  Sometimes  the  clergy  assembled  at  the  diet 
formed  themselves  into  an  ecclesiastical  council  to  deliberate 
on  church  affairs,  which  were  sometimes  proposed  and 


388  HISTORY    OF    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

brought  forward  by  the  king  himself,  or  else  by  one  of  his 
secretaries.  Sometimes  a  number  of  the  bishops  and  clergy 
were  called  together  by  the  king,  to  give  their  opinions  on 
certain  questions  laid  before  them,  as  in  1549  respecting  the 
Interim,  and  in  1552  on  the  subject  of  Gustavus'  third 
marriage.  The  form  was  still  indefinite  and  unsettled,  chiefly 
because  of  the  conflict  of  principles  relating  to  the  church's 
privileges  and  independence  of  the  royal  power. 

King  Gustavus's  ordinances  of  1539  and  1540  were  the 
first  attempt  to  raise  for  the  church  a  firm  government,  but 
as  an  instrument  of  the  royal  power  within  the  church. 
They  were  immediately  carried  into  execution,  and  this  king 
and  his  two  eldest  sons  exercised  this  power  without  law 
and  without  legal  pretension,  though  seldom  without  using 
the  agency  of  bishops  and  ordinaries.  That  there  was  need 
of  a  settled  ecclesiastical  regimen,  appeared  in  the  attempt 
in  the  ordinantia  of  1575  to  create  an  ecclesiastical  consis 
tory.  This,  however,  was  never  perfected.  The  third  at 
tempt,  in  the  following  centuiy,  resulted  in  the  well-known 
project  of  a  consistoriuni  generale. 

After  those  laws  lost  their  force,  which,  during  the  papal 
period,  protected  the  persons  and  property  of  the  church  in 
privileges  which  were  not  always  consistent  with  the  weal  of 
the  commonwealth  and  the  vigor  of  its  government,  the  out 
ward  discipline  of  the  church  lay  open  to  the  grasp  of  every 
power  which  gained  importance  in  the  state,  and  could  es 
tablish  its  own  will,  or  its  peculiar  aims,  in  the  place  of  that 
fallen  order  and  discipline.  The  Swedish  people  had  read 
ily  and  even  approvingly,  with  the  consent  of  a  large  num 
ber  of  ecclesiastics,  transferred  to  the  king  the  regulation  of 
the  church's  relations  to  the  state.  The  limits  of  his  power 
were,  in  this  respect,  as  in  others,  marked  out  with  little  ac 
curacy,  and  were  still  less  defined,  inasmuch  as  neither  the 
regulations  nor  laws  of  those  who  were  reforming  the 
church,  could  claim  any  validity.  The  people's  content  or 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  889 

discontent  was  the  only  guide,  and  king  Gustavus  had  an 
ample  measure  of  both.  He  and  his  sons,  however,  had  a 
regard  for  the  church,  and  used  their  power  to  uphold  ec 
clesiastical  and  moral  order,  and  even  to  protect  the  persons 
and  property  of  the  church  as  far  as  the  new  state  of  things 
allowed. 

But  the  temporal  aristocracy,  against  which  the  ecclesi 
astical  had  in  foregone  time  with  difficulty  protected  itself, 
desired  to  enlarge  its  power  at  the  expense  of  the  now  de 
fenceless  church.  Instead  of  citing  particular  cases,  we  will 
cite  the  points  with  regard  to  which,  in  1575,  the  clergy 
prayed  the  protection  of  king  John  against  the  injuries  of 
the  nobles,  as  they  dreaded  them,  or  what  is  more  correct, 
as  current  in  the  times  we  are  describing.  In  the  ordinan- 
tia  of  that  year,  which  was  submitted  to  the  king,  the  clergy 
petition  that  the  right  of  patronage  should  be  restrained ; 
that  the  king  would  not  suffer  the  nobles  to  place  and  dis 
place  priests,  even  if  they  or  their  forefathers  had  paid  the 
costs  of  the  church  or  glebe ;  that  churches  might  not  "  be 
subjected  to  their  outrages,  so  as  to  put  their  chaplains  in 
them,  and  seize  the  rents,  for  this  was  to  intrude  into 
another  man's  office,"  and  that  no  privileges  should  exempt 
the  nobles  from  paying  tithes  to  the  church  and  priests.  In 
the  same  document  they  petitioned  that  the  clergy  should  be 
protected  from  the  demands  upon  them  for  entertainment, 
which,  in  addition  to  that  given  bishops  and  stewards, 
whose  claims  were  admitted,  was  unreasonably  exacted  from 
priests  by  the  nobles,  who  quoted  St.  Paul's  injunction, 
"  that  ought  to  be  interpreted  only  of  the  poor  and  needy." 
They  petitioned,  moreover,  that  the  nobles'  and  king's  offi 
cers  should  not  be  allowed  forcibly  to  withdraw  scholars 
from  the  schools  to  their  own  service,  a  case  that  often  oc 
curred,  although  the  church  ordinance  of  1571  forbids  schol 
ars  to  be  taken  from  school  without  the  consent  of  parents. 
With  these  demands  for  redress  of  grieva^pes,  the  Swedish 


390  HISTOKY    OF    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

church  began  the  contest  for  its  freedom  and  privileges, 
which  was  still  more  rigorously  carried  on  in  the  following 
century. 

The  edict  for  reconstructing  the  chapter,  which  appeared 
in  the  church  ordinance  of  1571,  was  not  a  confirmation  of 
the  old  relations  of  that  body,  but  a  project  for  a  new  ar 
rangement,  to  take  the  place  of  the  previous  chapter,  now 
wholly  dissolved.  We  do  not  find  the  project  perfected  in 
any  diocese.  In  1573,  Westerns  was  the  only  see  which 
had  a  reader  of  theology.  In  most  places  a  penitentiary,  and 
in  Upeala  and  Viborg  a  provost,  was  not  to  be  found,  while,  in 
Wexio,  the  office  of  provost  was  connected  with  that  of  the 
pastor  of  the  church  in  the  town  where  the  bishop  resided* 
In  1575,  there  was  proposed  a  new  arrangement,  or  at  least 
a  renewal,  with  some  variations,  of  many  of  the  old  prelati- 
cal  titles. 

The  choir  priests,  who  in  popish  times  were  placed  in 
cathedrals,  and  a  number  of  wrhom  were  still  retained,  after 
1527,  in  each  cathedral,  were  now  wholly  discontinued. 
The  church  ordinance,  however,  regards  it  as  probable  that 
they  might  again  be  found  useful. 

The  church  ordinance  of  1571  speaks  of  bishops,  prov 
osts  of  a  district,  and  pastors  of  churches,  as  members  of  the 
clergy.  It  supposes  the  existence,  though  not  universally, 
of  chaplains  in  large  congregations,  or  in  benefices  which 
had  several  churches.  These  chaplains  were  known  of  old 
in  Stockholm,  and  were  supported  by  the  rectors  or  pastors 
of  churches.  In  1561,  there  were  three  in  the  pay  of  the 
state.  For  the  most  part,  except  perhaps  in  large  cities, 
these  chaplains  were  what  are  now  commonly  called  assist 
ants,  and  were  attached  to  such  rectors  as  had  large  benefi 
ces  or  many  churches  under  their  care.  This  was  the  only 
reason,  according  to  the  church  ordinance,  which  could 
justify,  or  oblige  the  rector  to  have  a  chaplain.  In  case  of 
sickness,  by  whicU  was  meant  long-continued,  or  incurable 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  391 

sickness,  or  for  old  age,  an  assistant  was  not  allowed,  but 
the  parish  priest  was  to  give  up  his  benefice.  He  who  reg 
ularly  resigned  his  benefice,  still  retained  the  priestly  char 
acter,  and  might,  at  the  request  of  another  parish  priest,  as 
sist  him  in  his  duties. 

The  chaplains  had  their  domicile  and  support  in  the 
house  of  the  rector  of  the  church,  and,  by  the  regulations 
which  the  bishops  issued  for  their  sees,  appear  to  have  been 
placed  under  the  control  and  strict  inspection  of  the  rector. 
For  the  first  time,  in  1575,  is  mention  made  of  a  settled  sal 
ary.  They  who  did  duty  for  priests,  were  to  have,  at  least, 
four  dollars  a  year,  and  "  any  advantages  they  could  get 
from  the  parishioners,"  without  violating  the  rights  of  the 
rector. 

The  bishops  are  admonished  not  to  ordain  more  priests 
than  were  necessary  for  their  respective  dioceses,  and  there 
is  no  mention  of  the  regret  felt  for  the  want  of  young 
priests,  in  case  of  unexpected  vacancies,  to  officiate  in  pub 
lic  worship,  and  assume  the  care  of  souls.  It  seems,  how 
ever,  that,  according  to  ancient  custom,  some  such  were 
maintained  by  the  cathedrals.  In  1572,  king  John  assured 
the  bishops  of  the  continuance  of  fhe  prebends  and  other 
sources  of  income,  on  condition  of  their  supporting  "  the 
young  persons  newly  ordained  to  the  priestly  office  in  Skara, 
until,  by  benefices,  or  otherwise,  provision  could  be  made  for 
them."  In  the  ordinantia  of  1575,  which  refers  to  them  as 
previously  existing,  mention  is  made,  beside  the  clergy  at 
tached  to  the  king's  palace,  and  the  parish  priests,  of  an 
other  sort  of  chaplains  residing  in  the  houses  of  the  nobility. 
We  know  not  whether  the  number  of  such  was  large,  but 
of  "  these  chaplains  of  the  nobility,"  it  is  ordained,  that 
they  should,  like  other  priests,  be  subject  to  the  bishop,  and 
be  obliged  to  appear  at  the  convocations  of  the  priests, 
where  inquisition  was  to  be  had  of  the  learning  and  lives  of 
the  sacerdotal  order. 


392  HISTORY    OF    THE    ECCLESIASTIC  AIL 

They  who  wished  to  enter  the  priesthood,  were  to  be  ex 
amined,  and  afterward  ordained.  This  examination  was 
incumbent  for  the  most  part  on  the  bishop  ;  but  with  whom 
he  might  divide  the  duty,  or  to  whom  transfer  it,  was  not 
determined.  In  1575,  this  duty  of  examination  is  assigned 
to  the  dean ;  but  in  the  church  ordinance  of  1571,  it  is 
merely  said,  that  they  shall  perform  the  duty  to  whom  it 
belonged. 

The  first  protestant  church  ordinance  found  it  necessary, 
to  remedy  a  bad  custom,  the  obviating  of  which  still  apper 
tained  to  the  bishops.  This  was  the  removal  or  translation 
of  priests  from  one  benefice  to  another.  The  bishops  are 
admonished  not  to  be  precipitate  in  sending  any  clerk  from 
one  to  another,  third,  or  fourth  benefice,  as  has  been  the 
injudicious  custom  ;  for  such  a  custom  gives  room  to  suppose 
that  he  who  is  so  ready  to  change  his  benefice,  seeks  not  what 
Christ  approves,  the  care  and  welfare  of  the  people,  but  the 
advancement  of  his  own  temporal  interests. 

The  incomes  of  rectors  remained  much  the  same  as  in 
former  times,  except  the  glebe  farms,  which,  from  1545, 
were  absorbed  by  the  crown,  and  for  which  a  compensation 
was  not  always  given,.  The  progress  of  agriculture  made 
this  compensation  anything  but  an  equivalent.  The  appro 
priations  too,  which,  from  this  time,  were  made  to  the 
bishops  and  chapters,  after  the  crown  became  possessed,  noi 
only  of  their  tithes,  but  their  tenants,  depended  on  the  good 
pleasure  of  the  king.  The  salary  was  in  the  nature  of  an 
investiture  of  the  crown,  and  was  fixed  every  year  on  the 
register  books  of  investitures.  It  was  not  so  parsimoniously 
dealt  out  by  king  Gustavus,  as  one  might  be  led  to  suppose. 
In  1556,  the  archbishop  had  025  barrels  of  corn,  besides  his 
palace  at  Upsala,  and  a  manor  near  the  city.  Bishop  Both- 
vid  of  Striingness,  had  only  365,  but  the  ordinary  of  Skara, 
Erik  Talk,  had  576  barrels  of  corn.  In  1561,  or  the  year 
after  king  Gustavus's  death,  the  bishops  and  ordinaries  had 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  393 

appropriated  to  them  124  tons,  or  5,952  barrels  of  corn,  of 
which  the  archbishop  had  16  tons,  or  768  barrels.  The 
rectors  in  nineteen  towns,  besides  three  chaplains  and  the 
preacher  of  the  grey  monks'  cloister,  at  Stockholm,  had  71 
tons,  or  3.408  barrels,  from  48  to  288  barrels  for  each.  In 
king  John's  time,  these  investitures  were  augmented,  not 
withstanding  that  more  ecclesiastical  offices  were  set  on  foot. 
At  the  close  of  the  reign  of  Gustavus,  no  other  appropria 
tions  were  made  than  for  bishops  and  ordinaries,  rectors  in 
cities  and  schoolmasters. 

The  regulation  contained  in  the  above-named  ordinance 
of  1571,  that  the  priest  incapacitated  from  managing  his 
benefice  should  give  it  up,  was  a  relict  of  former  times. 
But  the  permission  to  priests  to  enter  into  the  marriage 
state,  which  followed  on  the  reformation  of  the  church,  les 
sened  the  facility  of  making  any  change  in  their  circum 
stances,  and  the  pity  felt  for  their  widows  and  children  occa 
sioned  a  new  legislation.  It  was  a  recognized  principle, 
that  the  vacant  benefice  should  be  immediately  taken  by  a 
new  legal  occupant,  although,  as  before  the  Reformation,  a 
portion  of  the  current  year's  income  was  to  belong  to  him 
who  resigned  the  benefice,  or  to  his  heirs  after  death.  In 
1559,  it  was  ruled  that  the  resigner,  or  his  heirs,  should 
have  that  portion  of  the  year's  income  which  corresponded 
with  the  time  of  his  management  of  the  benefice.  The  year 
was  divided  into  quarters,  the  heirs  being  entitled  to  the  in 
come  of  the  last  quarter,  provided  they  kept  up  divine  ser 
vice  to  the  close  of  the  year.  The  widow  and  children  of 
the  deceased  had  a  right  to  the  stock  and  house-room  in  the 
parsonage,  for  at  least  the  first  half  year.  The  same  rule  is 
observed  in  the  church  ordinance  of  the  year  1571,  except 
that  the  year  is  divided  into  two  parts,  and  that  nothing  is 
said  of  providing  for  divine  service.  The  afterward  often- 
abused  custom,  of  what  was  called  a  whole  year  of  grace,  is 
not  mentioned.  But  both  the  law  and  church  ordinance  of 

17* 


394  HISTORY   OF   THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

1559,  express,  in  the  same  terms,  the  hope,  that  the  widow 
will  not  be  removed  from  the  parsonage  till  otherwise  pro 
vided  for ;  and  the  ordinance  appeals  to  the  heart  of  the 
successor  in  the  Scriptural  admonition,  not  to  afflict  the 
widow  and  fatherless.  The  hope  expressed,  that  the  widow, 
before  being  removed  from  the  parsonage,  should  be  provi 
ded  for  by  marrying  again,  or  otherwise,  became  the  occa 
sion  of  the  bad  practice  of  patrons  inducing  unprovided 
priests  to  marry  the  widows  and  daughters  of  priests,  as  the 
condition  of  being  promoted  to  benefices.  The  right  to 
half  the  house,  granted  to  the  widows  by  king  John,  in 
1569,  they  were  justified  in  claiming,  as  is  allowed  in  the 
ordinantia  of  1575,  when  the  clergy  begged  of  the  king  that 
after  the  death  of  the  husband  they  might  be  released  from 
this  incumbranoe. 

2.— SCHOOLS  AND  LITERATURE. 

The  Reformation  which  distinguished  the  fifteenth  cen 
tury,  stirred  the  spirit  of  inquiry.  But  when  we  wish  to 
contemplate  its  influence  on  the  cultivation  of  science  in 
Sweden,  two  distinct  questions  present  themselves;  what 
was  done  in  conformity  with  the  impulse  given  to  literary 
cultivation  at  a  time  when  every  man  was  demanded  a  rea 
son  for  his  faith,  and  the  clergy,  in  general,  were  required 
to  possess  ability  to  preach  God's  word  ;  and,  did  the  ab 
sorption  and  diminution  of  the  church's  establishments  and 
property,  in  any  degree,  check  or  lessen  the  means  and  op' 
portunities  for  training  up  the  eleves  and  scholars  of  the 
church  t 

It  has  already  been  remarked,  that  king  Gustavus  I. ,  his 
chief  counsellor  Laurentius  Petri,  and  the  bishops,  as  soon 
as  they  could  pay  attention  to  the  altered  relations  that  had 
arisen  from  the  first  breach  in  the  church's  life  and  disci 
pline,  showed  their  anxiety  respecting  the  cause  of  educa 
tion,  for  which  the  new  order  of  things  had  occasioned  a 


REFORMATION   IN    SWEDEN.  396 

demand.  In  order  to  complete  the  picture  we  design  to 
draw  of  the  condition  of  things  during  and  before  the  year 
1573,  we  must  go  back  to  the  year  1539,  or  that  period 
when  the  more  thorough  change  began  to  take  effect. 

The  preparative  means  of  education,  which  the  old  era 
left  as  an  inheritance  to  the  new,  were  the  diocesan  and 
state  schools,  and  the  cloisters.  The  former,  as  far  as  they 
were  connected  with  the  church,  did  not  suffer  by  the  re 
duction  of  the  incomes  of  cathedrals  and  chapters,  because 
the  necessity  of  maintaining  schoolmasters  was  keenly  felt, 
and  the  old  idea  that  on  cathedrals  was  imposed  the  duty  of 
building  up  diocesan  schools,  was  still  dominant.  The 
most  important  change  in  the  means  of  instruction,  arose 
out  of  the  dissolution  of  the  monasteries.  But  in  consider 
ing  the  cloisters  as  a  provision  for  educational  purposes,  we 
allude  only,  or  chiefly  at  the  time  of  the  Reformation,  to 
those  of  the  Dominicans  and  Franciscans.  If  we  inquire 
where,  after  these  except  in  Finland  were  generally  dissolv 
ed,  schools  were  to  be  found  established,  we  shall  discover, 
according  to  the  registry  of  1561,  soon  after  Gustavus's 
death,  that,  in  almost  all  places  where  these  orders  existed, 
there  were  schools.  There  were,  besides,  schools  in  the  dio 
cese  of  Upsala,  at  Gefle  ;  in  that  of  Linkoping,  at  Wadsten  ; 
in  that  of  Skara,  at  Elfsborg  and  Linkoping;  in  that  of 
Striingness,  at  Nykoping  and  Orebro  ;  in  that  of  Westeras, 
at  Stora  Tuna.  The  Franciscan  cloisters  of  Finland,  at 
Tlokarna  and  Raumo,  had  a  school  at  Helsingfors  ;  but,  in 
1573,  Raumo  had  one  of  its  own.  That  at  St.  Tuna  was 
dissolved  at  the  same  time  with  the  office  of  ordinary.  The 
support  which  was  given  to  students  out  of  the  pre 
bends  of  cathedrals  and  other  considerable  incomes  of 
prelates,  was  withdrawn  or  diminished,  especially  after 
the  tithes  and  other  church  property,  except  the  thirds  of 
the  rectors,  were  suppressed  to  the  crown. 

Out  of  these,  on  the  other  hand,  a  certain  amount  was 


396  HISTORY    OF    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

applied  to  the  support  of  students  in  every  cathedral.  This 
amount  was  not  parsimonious,  and  certainly  not  less  than 
was  before  given  to  the  same  object.  In  1561,  the  whole 
allotment  for  the  support  of  students  in  all  the  cathedrals 
amounted  to  66  tons,  or  3,168  barrels  of  corn  This  ap 
propriation  might  not  have  been  the  same  every  year,  but 
in  the  later  years  of  king  Gustavns,  that  amount  was  com 
mon.  The  students  of  the  diocese  of  Upsala,  were  rated,  in 
1561,  at  480,  and  five  years  before  at  470  barrels  of  corn. 
Scholars  were,  besides,  supported  by  alms-begging  in  par 
ishes,  and  this  method  was,  in  1571,  allowed  for  the  future, 
by  a  church  ordinance.  King  Gustavus,  thought  no  scorn 
to  leave  in  his  will  a  sum  of  money  to  schools.  It  was  di 
vided  among  them  the  year  after  his  death,  and  invested  for 
their  benefit. 

The  church  ordinance,  and  the  salary  project,  show  that 
in  each  school  there  was  but  one  teacher  appointed.  The 
pay  of  these  teachers  for  twenty-two  scholars,  was  2,604 
barrels  of  corn  ;  on  an  average,  121  for  each  scholar,  144 
for  the  highest,  96  for  the  lowest.  The  church  ordinance 
allows  them  exemption  from  taxes,  and  a  domicil.  In  king 
John's  time  there  began  to  be  appointed,  here  and  there,  an 
additional  teacher,  or  corrector  of  the  school.  According 
to  the  first  school  law,  occurring  in  the  church  ordinance  of 
1571,  it  was  visual  for  the  pupils  of  the  four  lower  divisions 
of  schools,  to  be  termed  "  hearers."  It  was  the  practice  of 
old  time.  This  school  law  limits  the  instruction  in  langua 
ges,  in  the  four  classes,  to  Latin  and  Swedish ;  the  latter 
tongue,  "  so  much  as  is  required  for  the  seasons  of  the 
church." 

The  Latin  was  the  only  proper  speech  of  the  schools. 
Not  only,  as  was  the  case  long  after  this  time,  were  the 
teachers  forbidden  to  speak  to  the  pupils  in  any  other  lan 
guage,  but  they  who  wished  to  learn  Greek  or  Hebrew, 
were  to  question  no  one  in  any  tongue  but  Latin  ;  otherwise, 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  397 

preceptors  were  to  look  to  themselves  as  liable  to  be 
called  to  account ;  the .  reason  assigned  being,  the  useless- 
ness  of  burdening  children  with  a  multiplicity  of  reading. 
Hence  the  school  was  called  a  Latin  school,  but  its  object 
was  to  provide  fit  materials,  not  only  for  the  priestly  office, 
but  for  the  business  of  the  state,  which  required  a  superior 
literary  culture.  Within  the  compass  of  the  Latin,  was 
included  what  might  be  termed  the  humanities.  To  the 
reading  of  the  authors  of  old  Rome,  were  added,  in  their 
tongue,  the  study  of  grammar,  rhetoric,  dialectics,  and  the 
exercise  of  the  pen  in  large  and  small  hand,  and  the 
strengthening  of  the  memory  by  repeating  certain  passages 
from  classic  authors  and  the  poets.  A  deeper  wisdom, 
a  training  for  the  wisdom  which  lies  in  the  life  and  con 
duct,  was  inculcated  and  effected  by  the  precepts  of  Christi 
anity  ;  and  these  were  taught  out  of  the  Holy  Scriptures  as 
the  fountain  of  truth.  Singing  was  a  part  of  the  daily 
exercises  of  the  school.  The  youth  were  practised  both  in 
choral  singing  and  in  what  was  termed  "  figurative  music," 
and  they  were  well  grounded  in  the  principles  of  this  pleas 
ing  science.  In  the  ordinantia  of  1575,  we  find  that  the 
acting  of  plays  in  Latin  and  Swedish,  both  "  comedies  and 
tragedies,"  was  customary  in  schools,  and  it  is  spoken  of  as 
beneficial  to  the  actors  and  spectators.  That  these  plays, 
under  the  title  of  "  miracles"  and  "  morals,"  were  similar 
to  those  performed  in  other  countries,  appears  from  the  rule 
prescribed  in  the  above-named  ordinantia,  that  after  this 
time  it  should  not  be  permissible  to  introduce  in  these 
dramatic  performances  the  persons  of  the  Holy  Trinity. 

The  number  of  pupils  in  a  school  depended  on  particular 
circumstances,  such  as  the  size  of  the  diocese,  and  the  skill 
of  the  teacher,  and  cannot  be  given.  From  a  report,  that 
the  school  at  Wadsten  had,  some  years  later,  or  in  1580, 
one  hundred  pupils,  we  may  presume  that  the  rest  were  nu 
merously  attended.  The  age  at  which  lads  entered  the 


398  HISTORY    OF   THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

public  schools  varied,  but  it  seems  that  ten  was  the  usual 
period  of  life.  The  time  of  their  remaining  at  school  also 
varied  ;  depending  upon  the  disposition  of  the  youth,  or 
upon  the  character  of  the  school,  as  imparting  a  complete 
scientific  education,  or  as  merely  preparative  to  a  higher 
course  of  instruction.  They  who  preferred  it,  had  private 
tutors  for  their  children. 

Am  on01  the  schools  which  flourished  in  the  middle  of  this 

D 

century  and  afterward,  the  most  eminent  perhaps  was  that 
at  Gene,  founded  by  king  Gustavus  /.,  in  connection,  it  may 
be  presumed,  with  the  nomination  of  an  ordinary  for  that 
town.  It  is  highly  prized  by  its  grateful  pupils ;  and  these 
pupils,  for  the  latter  half  of  the  sixteenth  century,  were 
men  eminent  in  the  church  and  the  sciences.  The  excel 
lent  condition  and  management  of  this  scholastic  institution, 
the  only  one  for  all  Norrland,  but  frequented  by  students 
from  other  places,  will  account  for  the  well-known  fact,  that 
most  of  the  men  who  were  foremost  in  the  controversies 
which  arose  during  the  times  of  Erik  and  John,  were  from 
Gestrikland,  Helsingland,  and  the  northern  districts.  They 
were  zealously  attached  to  the  Lutheran  reformation,  and 
opposers  of  Calvinism,  popery,  and  the  liturgies  of  John  III. 

These  schools  did  not  pretend  to  furnish  an  education  to 
its  full  extent.  The  school  ordinance  of  the  year  1571, 
does  not  refer  to  academical  studies  as  a  continuance  of 
their  labors,  but  in  expressly  requiring  that  the  youth  of 
every  diocese  should  be  kept  to  their  studies  both  at  home 
and  in  foreign  lands,  acknowledges  the  need  of  a  literary 
finish,  not  to  be  obtained  through  the  ordinary  resources 
of  Sweden. 

FYom  the  diocesan  schools  the  young  men  were  either 
immediately  transferred  to  the  service  of  the  church  or 
State ;  or,  deriving  a  support  from  the  prebends  assigned  for 
that  purpose,  sometimes  from  the  donations  made  to  students, 
sometimes  from  the  invested  tithes  distributed  by  the  bishops, 


REFORMATION   IN    SWEDEN.  399 

they  hastened  to  foreign  academies.  A  large  number  of  the 
scholars  passed  immediately  from  the  schools  to  the  ful 
filment  of  the  duties  of  parish  priests.  From  time  to  time, 
king  Gustavus  demanded  that  suitable  men  should  be  sent 
him  from  the  schools,  to  serve  in  the  royal  chancery  and 
chamber  of  accounts.  With  the  schools,  however,  he  was 
not  always  satisfied.  Thus,  in  1559,  he  complains  that  the 
bishops  and  schoolmasters  chose  out  and  sent  for  the  service 
of  king  and  kingdom  unpolished  and  ignorant  pupils,  "  the 
vilest  trash  that  one  could  expect  to  find." 

Schools  for  special  purposes  began  now  to  be  established. 
For  the  advancement  of  arithmetical  knowledge,  king 
Gustavus,  in  1538,  gave  one  of  the  prebends  of  Striingness  to 
the  organist  Lars  of  Stockholm,  on  condition  that  he  should 
instruct  pupils  in  keeping  accounts.  It  appears  from  the 
ordinantia  of  1578,  that  "writing  schools"  were  established 
at  Stockholm,  probably  corresponding  to  what  are  now 
called  arithmetical  schools ;  and  mention  is  made  of  schools 
for  teaching  to  sew,  in  the  place  of  the  nunneries  gone  to 
decay. 

The  extent  to  which  education  could  be  carried  in  our 
fatherland,  depended,  in  a  great  degree,  upon  the  care  of  the 
bishops  to  provide  fit  teachers  for  the  schools  of  their  dio 
ceses.  Such  were  sought  out,  and  from  this  time,  the  men 
most  eminent  for  learning,  were  those  who  had  labored  in 
the  work  of  education.  It  was  generally  expected  that 
they  who  had  pursued  their  studies  abroad,  should,  on 
coming  home,  offer  their  services  in  institutions  of  learning. 
This  course  operated  for  the  present  to  the  less  advantage, 
as  almost  all  the  vigor  which  would  have  been  applied  to 
the  church  was  absorbed  in  the  calling  of  the  schoolmaster  ; 
and  as  the  aid  of  foreigners  must  be  employed  in  education 
of  a  more  finished  kind,  Germany  especially  was  the  re 
source  for  scientific  scholarship.  But  it  was  a  sacrifice 
made  by  a  family  rich  in  hope  and  love,  which  exposed  its 


400  HISTORY    OF    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

deficiencies,  in  preparation   for  the  spiritual  riches  which 
were  to  follow. 

The  number  of  Swedes  who  sought  out  foreign  uni 
versities  was  not  inconsiderable.  They  received  prebends 
or  other  means  of  support,  cither  to  pursue  their  studies  in 
foreign  lands,  or  to  perfect  themselves  in  some  special  walk 
of  science,  as  theology,  jurisprudence,  medicine,  or  to  pre 
pare  themselves  for  the  higher  posts  of  the  government ;  and 
they  retained  these  means  of  support  for  a  definite  or  in 
definite  time.  Some  maintained  themselves  at  their  own 
expense.  Schism  within  the  church,  was  the  reason  why 
the  protestant  universities  of  Germany  were  almost  ex 
clusively  frequented.  Among  these,  Wittenberg  and  Ros 
tock  were  the  most  prominent  marks  for  the  travels  of 
science-seeking  Swedes.  Wittenberg  was  made  illustrious 
by  Luther  and  Melancthon ;  and  Rostock,  in  the  latter 
half  of  the  century,  by  D.  Chytrreus,  who  stood  in  close 
connection  with  the  learned  men  and  statesmen  of  Sweden, 
esteemed  and  consulted  in  its  ecclesiastical  affairs,  and  the 
man  around  whom  gathered  strangers,  especially  from  the 
north.  On  the  matriculation  register  of  the  academy  of 
Wittenberg  are  inscribed,  from  the  year  1540  to  1573,  the 
names  of  more  than  seventy  Swedes  and  Finns.  On  the 
register  of  Rostock,  which  might  at  this  time  be  called 
with  justice  the  university  of  Sweden,  there  are  more  than 
a  hundred  Swedish  names;  although  certainly  the  names 
of  the  same  persons  are  to  be  found  in  both  places.  It  is 
to  be  considered,  that  very  many  went  immediately  from 
the  schools  of  our  own  land  into  the  service  of  the  church 
and  state.  If  we  except  archbishop  Laurentius  Petri, 
there  was  scarcely  a  man  of  science  in  Sweden  who  had  not 
studied  abroad.  All,  however,  had  the  means  of  support 
till  they  reached  the  higher  branches  of  science ;  but  many 
after  a  short  stay  were  obliged  to  return  home.  Others 
remained  several  years  in  foreign  lands,  even  after  they 
acquired  the  master's  degree. 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  401 

This  degree  was  sometimes  received  by  Swedes  in  one  or 
two  years  after  coming  to  the  university ;  a  circumstance 
which  proves  that  the  schools  of  our  own  land  were  not  so 
low  in  the  higher  walks  of  literature  as  has  been  pretended, 
and  as  otherwise  one  might  be  tempted  to  suppose.  The 
number  of  those  who,  in  foreign  academies,  won  the  higher 
titles  of  learning,  has  not  been  clearly  ascertained.  A 
catalogue  furnishes  the  names  of  twenty-five  Swedes  and 
Finns,  who,  from  the  year  1529  to  1561,  were  promoted  at 
Wittenberg  to  the  degree  of  master.  But,  besides  that  we 
have  no  reports  from  other  universities,  even  this  witness 
does  not  fully  testify ;  because  it  is  demonstrable  that  men 
who  are  not  there  named  received  these  titles  of  honor  at 
AYittenberg  itself  during  that  period,  and  because  the  higher 
attainments  in  literature  were  then  particularly  coveted. 

The  times  of  king  Gustavus  I.,  however,  appear  not  to 
have  been  in  general  favorable  to  a  learned  education.  To 
test  the  justice  of  this  opinion,  as  far  as  regards  the  blame 
to  be  attached  to  the  memory  of  this  great  king,  those  cir 
cumstances  must  be  taken  into  consideration,  which  did  not 
depend  on  him,  and  those  for  which  he  is  to  be  censured. 
Till  the  first  suppression  of  the  monasteries,  these  institu 
tions,  where  the  love  of  carnal  enjoyment  did  not  interfere, 
might  work  beneficially  in  the  cause  of  education.  But 
the  Reformation  denied  that  the  influence  of  the  cloisters 
was  beneficial,  and  in  preserving  them  must  have  denied  its 
principles.  The  monks  of  the  sixteenth  century  were  not 
distinguished  for  scientific  cultivation.  The  same  was  the 
case  with  the  suppression  of  the  chapters,  whereby  it 
seemed,  because  in  every  diocese  they  were  to  a  great  extent 
the  sponsors  of  learning,  that  the  influence  and  regard  for 
learning  itself  were  lessened.  But  the  men  of  the  Reforma 
tion  and  their  contemporaries  had  in  general  little  respect 
for  what  did  not  immediately  promote  the  life  of  the  church 
and  state,  and  although  the  chapters  were  instituted  for  that 


402  HISTORY    OF    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

purpose,  their  efficiency  had  for  the  most  part  ceased.  To 
restore  them  in  conformity  to  the  condition  of  the  old 
church,  could  not  be  done  by  the  reformers,  who  protested 
against  that  church  and  its  condition.  To  build  them  up 
in  conformity  with  the  new  order  of  things  was  not  the 
work  of  a  moment,  at  least  not  of  the  Reformation,  which 
had  to  make  provision  for  its  own  theories.  In  Sweden, 
therefore,  the  suppression  of  the  chapters  was  demanded,  or 
they  were  allowed  to  expire.  But  it  cannot  be  proved  that 
the  commencement  made,  in  1571  and  1575,  for  their  re 
construction  according  to  the  spirit  of  the  Reformation,  was 
in  contrariety  to  king  Gustavus's  views  and  purposes. 

The  means  employed  by  this  king  for  the  promotion  of 
learning,  and  his  defence  for  the  failure  of  those  means,  we 
have,  under  the  year  1539,  already  made  the  subject  of  con 
sideration.  Immediately  after  that  period,  began  the  insur 
rection  which  more  endangered  the  stability  of  his  throne 
than  any  that  had  preceded,  while  the  increasing  breach  in 
the  church  relations,  and  the  alarms  felt  for  the  revenues 
and  dignity  of  the  clergy,  militated  against  the  interests  of 
literature.  If,  after  quiet  once  more  returned,  there  was  not 
immediately  a  richer  bloom,  the  disregard  exhibited  for 
science  and  the  arts  was  not  the  fault  of  the  king.  Such  a 
disregard  cannpt  be  imputed  to  the  man  who  gave  his  sons 
the  careful  training  and  educational  discipline  received  by 
Ihe  sons  of  king  Gustavus.  For  their  instruction,  the 
learned  foreigners,  G.  Norman,  D.  Beurreus,  H.  Mollerus, 
the  Latin  poet,  J.  Berndes,  Tycho  Gyllencreutz,  were 
invited  into  the  kingdom,  and  such  men  were  recalled  home 
as  Marten  Teit,  and  Erik  Petri,  afterward  the  teacher  of 
the  school  of  Tuna. 

It  was  more  perhaps  his  fault,  that  with  a  sparing  hand 
he  dealt  out  the  riches  of  the  church  that  were  recovered  to 
the  crown,  and  to  which  schools  might  be  regarded  as  the 
legitimate  heir,  the  claimant  by  hereditary  right.  The  ex- 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  403 

perience  of  a  great  necessity,  and  want  of  means  to  carry 
out  his  plans,  often  tempted  him  to  use  parsimoniously  the 
resources  painfully  acquired  ;  and  this  temptation  continued 
to  operate  on  the  rescuer  of  his  impoverished  country,  after 
quiet  and  plenty  had  taken  the  place  of  disorder  and 
penury.  Justice,  too,  demands  that  there  be  taken  into 
consideration  the  circumstances  which  pleaded  his  apology, 
or  in  a  great  measure  must  soften  the  censure  which  might 
be  passed  upon  him.  Among  these  circumstances,  may  be 
enumerated  that  the  king  stood  in  need  of  ampler  means  for 
carrying  on  the  business  of  the  state  than  were  always  at 
hand ;  that  he  notwithstanding  appropriated  no  small  part 
of  his  revenues  to  the  support  of  schools  and  students ;  that 
the  incomes  of  the  chapters  were  considerably  diminished 
at  their  suppression  ;  that  the  prebendal  churches,  created  at 
the  time,  acquired  pastors  for  themselves,  to  whom  allot 
ments  were  made ;  that  the  eminent  want  of  men  who 
could  manage  the  dioceses,  churches,  and  schools,  in  the 
spirit  of  the  new  times,  did  not  always  admit  the  develop 
ment  of  his  generosity,  because  he  could  not  always  de 
termine  how  far  that  want  extended.  His  gifts  must  be 
proportioned  to  the  numbers  to  whom  he  was  to  give.  At 
the  time  when  the  amount  of  this  want  was  ascertained,  at 
the  end  of  king  G-ustavus's  reign,  there  commences  the 
dawn  of  a  brighter  day. 

That  king  Gustavus  allowed  the  university  of  Upsala  to 
decay,  we  have  already  shown  to  be  an  unfounded  accusa 
tion.  That  he  pulled  down  the  old  cathedral  school-house 
in  Upsala,  in  order  to  convert  its  materials  to  the  building 
of  a  castle  there,  is  a  charge  that  comes  homes  to  him,  only 
so  far  as  it  can  be  shown  that  this  house  was  in  good  con 
dition,  and  either  needed  no  repairs,  or  was  fit  for  the  pur 
pose  to  which  it  was  originally  destined.  Income  he  could 
not  take  away  from  the  academy  of  Upsala,  for  it  had  none. 
Was  it  his  fault  that  he  did  not  erect  a  university  out  of  the 


404  HISTORY    OP    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

temporal  and  ecclesiastical  resources  at  his  command  ?  The 
former,  perhaps,  in  the  later  years  of  his  reign,  were  found 
sufficient.  Of  the  latter,  we  have  already  remarked  that 
they  were  taken  on  the  pressure  of  an  inevitable  and  urgent 
necessity.  A  university  could  not  be  established,  except  by 
calling  in  foreigners  to  keep  it  up,  and  there  would  thus 
have  existed  a  foreign  university  on  a  Swedish  bottom  and 
territory.  Gustavus  I.  preferred  the  expedient  of  allowing 
invited  foreigners  to  instruct  the  successors  to  the  throne 
and  the  princes  of  the  land,  while  others  were  sent  abroad 
to  receive  a  liberal  education,  until  his  people  acquired 
sufficient  science  to  enable  them,  from  their  own  bosom,  to 
derive  the  means  of  that  more  liberal  education.  Different 
judgments  may  be  formed  of  the  correctness  of  his  course  of 
action  ;  but  when  viewed  in  its  true  light,  it  must  win  the 
approbation  of  many. 

The  first  traces  of  the  reestablishment  of  the  academy  of 
Upsala  are  veiled  in  darkness.  In  1538,  there  are  none 
found.  But  within  two  years  after,  king  Gustavus  excused 
himself  for  having  neglected  this  important  matter ;  and 
not  long  after  Peutinger  and  Norman  acquired  their  in 
fluence,  the  signs  of  a  care  for  higher  literary  attainments 
began,  in  1540,  to  be  manifest.  An  author  of  the  follow 
ing  century  reports  that  king  Gustavus,  in  that  year,  es 
tablished  the  university  of  Upsala.  It  is  also  reported  that 
a  Hollander,  Jacob  Stieger,  and  one  Olaus  Magni,  were 
professors  at  Upsala,  the  latter  in  mathematics.  But  of 
any  statute  for  the  erecting  of  the  academy,  or  for  the  pay 
of  these  men  or  their  successors,  there  is  no  mention. 
Without  positive  evidence  with  regard  to  persons  and  par 
ticulars,  we  may  presume  that  the  king  placed  these  men  in 
Upsala,  and  that  their  being  placed  in  that  position,  as  well 
as  some  hints  on  the  subject,  were  intended  as  an  intimation 
that  the  regeneration  of  the  academy  was  designed.  In  a 
subsequent  year,  the  king  invited  from  abroad  foreign 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  405 

teachers  for  special  branches  of  science.  Thus,  in  a  letter 
written  in  1547  to  some  professors  at  Rostock,  he  requests 
them  to  send  him  a  man  skilled  in  law,  to  instruct  the  youth 
of  Sweden. 

The  need  of  a  university  at  home  was  the  more  perceived 
and  felt,  in  consequence  of  the  increasing  improvement  in 
the  manners  and  habits  of  the  people,  and  the  connection 
with  Germany  arising  out  of  the  Danish  war ;  king  Erik, 
therefore,  on  June  8,  1566,  made  known  his  determination 
to  found  a  college  or  university  to  be  opened  in  the  old 
chapter  house.  The  king  promised  "  to  grant  sustenance, 
privileges,  and  more  than  what  their  necessities  required," 
to  its  teachers,  and  he  took  both  teachers  and  pupils  under 
his  royal  care  and  protection.  As  a  beginning,  only  one 
teacher  was  appointed,  Laurentius  Petri  Gothus,  who  was 
to  give  instruction  in  the  Greek  language,  and  in  what  else 
might  be  serviceable  to  youth. 

This  was  a  small  beginning,  but  from  that  time  the% 
establishment  was  without  interruption  for  some  years,  and 
was  even  enlarged.  In  1573,  the  institution  had  but  four 
teachers,  sometimes  called  professors,  sometimes  readers,  and 
the  high  school  itself  was  interchangeably  termed  a  uni 
versity,  academy,  and  college.  There  was  yet  wanting  the 
apparatus  and  appointments  which  are  regarded  as  belong 
ing  to  a  university.  King  John  was  minded  to  issue 
orders  for  this  purpose.  The  university  was  to  be  put  upon 
a  more  complete  foundation,  and  directions  were  given  for 
the  arrangement  of  the  faculty,  or  as  it  is  expressed  in  the 
edict,  for  the  "  four  colleges"  of  which  the  university  was 
to  consist.  These  were  to  be  directed  by  a  dean,  and  the 
whole  university  to  be  under  the  control  of  a  rector.  This 
construction  was  perhaps  the  form  it  took  a  century  after 
the  first  institution  of  the  academy.  But  just  at  this 
period,  the  breaking  out  of  disturbances  within  the  church 
was  the  cause  of  its  remaining  incomplete,  and  occasioned 


406  HISTORY   OF   THE   ECCLESIASTICAL 

for   some   years   an    interruption    of  the   progress   of  the 
academy,  instead  of  its  being  amplified  as  was  intended. 

The  men  of  the  half  century  between  1523  and  1573, 
were  the  last  whom  the  Roman  church  brought  up,  and 
were  the  first  fruits  of  the  Reformation.  The  latter  need 
not  fear  comparison  with  the  former.  On  either  side  we 
find  authors  of  the  first  magnitude,  the  lights  of  learning. 
Improvement  in  education  and  manners  proceeded  slowly  ; 
but  it  cannot  be  shown  that  the  Reformation  was  a  hin- 
derance,  although  it  counteracted  the  tendency  to  pure  hea 
thenism  to  which  that  improvement  at  first  gave  rise. 
Highest  among  the  learned  men  of  Sweden  stand  the  re 
formers,  at  first  educated  under  the  discipline  of  the  old 
times,  but  by  the  Reformation  made  what  they  were. 
Among  these,  archbishop  Laurentius  Petri  is  the  most 
illustrious  for  talents  cultivated  by  extensive  reading,  but 
more  in  the  school  of  life ;  a  bright  example  of  that  un 
assuming  conduct  which  brings  to  light  by  their  application 
lo  the  benefit  of  the  commonwealth  the  residts  of  learned 
investigation,  rather  than  the  labors  by  which  those  results 
are  won.  He  belonged  to  both  the  old  times  and  the  new. 
The  former  expired  during  his  life,  but  not  without  shedding 
some  beams  of  light.  From  the  latter  there  grew  up 
around  him  a  body  of  princes,  senators,  and  men  of  the 
church,  who  exhibited  in  the  vigorous  measures  they  pur 
sued  no  mean  degree  of  culture  and  science.  The  men  of 
the  times  of  John  III.,  Sigismund,  and  Charles  IX.,  were 
the  youths  of  the  days  of  Gustavus  I.  and  Laurentius 
Petri. 

A  probable  estimate  of  the  measure  of  learning  required 
from  priests  who  were  not  sent  to  the  foreign  high  schools, 
may  be  formed  by  a  reference  to  the  Latin  schools,  on  the 
supposition  that  these  were  a  fair  exemplification  of  all  the 
rest.  A  knowledge  of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  in  the  original 
tongues,  was  not  required ;  nor  was  theology  taught  as  a 


REFORMATION   IN    SWEDEN.  407 

special  branch  of  learning,  except  as  a  trial  exercise  in  the 
church's  divine  service ;  an  hour  every  day  being  also  de 
voted  to  the  reading  and  explanation  of  certain  portions  of 
the  Bible  and  catechism.  The  education  of  priests  apper 
tained  to  the  bishops  and  those  who  belonged  to  the  chapter, 
or  was  conducted  by  persons  specially  designated,  and  was 
continued  at  yearly  convocations  and  visitations. 

In  1541,  it  was  ordered  that  youths,  after  a  preparative 
course  of  instruction,  should  be  trained  in  theology,  by 
those  who  were  provided  with  prebends.  The  schoolmaster 
probably  also  had  this  duty,  where  there  was  no  reader  of 
theology.  Older  statutes,  as  well  as  the  church  ordinance 
of  1571,  refer  first  and  last  to  the  Holy  Scriptures,  "  so  that 
it  shall  not  again  come  to  pass,  as  under  the  pope,  that  so 
much  attention  was  paid  to  other  things,  yes,  even  to  hea 
thenish  books,  that  no  time  was  left  for  reading  the  Bible." 
But  an  acquaintance  with  other  writings  on  the  part  of 
priests  was  presupposed.  The  church  ordinance  prescribes, 
as  the  condition  of  becoming  a  priest,  only  the  legal  age 
and  some  experience  in  the  Holy  Scriptures,  and  says  nothing 
expressly  of  literary  exercises  before  the  convocation. 

The  Reformation  would  have  denied  itself,  if  it  had  not 
sought  to  promote  the  cultivation  of  Christian  knowledge 
among  the  people.  It  might  be  made  a  question,  whether 
the  church,  by  the  suppression  of  the  monastic  usages,  had 
not  deprived  itself  of  a  very  useful  aid,  especially  in  those 
monks  of  the  begging  orders,  whose  mission  seemed  adapted 
to  this  object.  But  even  with  respect  to  this  object,  the 
reformers  condemned  that  whole  body  of  monks,  and  we 
have  before  remarked  in  what  bad  repute  the  begging  orders 
were  then  held.  The  church  considered  herself  able,  with 
great  advantage  to  Christian  truth,  to  dispense  with  this 
so  lately  misused  aid. 

A  long  time  was  to  elapse,  before  an  attempt  was  to  be 
made  to  enable  every  man  to  read  a  book.  One  scarcely 


408  HISTORY    OF   THE   ECCLESIASTICAL 

ventured  to  imagine  such  a  thing  possible.  All  efforts, 
therefore,  were  centred  in  an  oral  communication  of  the 
knowledge  of  Christianity.  Preaching,  therefore,  was  of 
the  utmost  importance,  not  only  that  the  priest  might  take 
his  place  in-  the  congregation  as  one  who  sought  for  Chris 
tian  truth,  and  made  it  known,  not  only  as  one  who  was 
to  infuse  a  new  spirit  into  the  minds  of  his  hearers,  but  as 
one  who  was  even  to  indoctrinate  them  into  the  first  prin 
ciples  of  the  Christian  faith.  To  furnish  postils  as  a  guide 
to  the  clergy,  was,  in  addition  to  controversial  writing 
against  the  Roman  church,  one  of  the  first  things  underta 
ken,  in  1528,  by  the  reformers;  and  from  the  year  1529, 
the  duties  of  the  pulpit  were  made  obligatory  on  all  priests. 

Until  1571,  in  some  country  churches,  probably  the 
smaller  kind,  there  was  no  pulpit.  The  church  law,  there 
fore,  provides  for  their  erection,  and  for  an  alteration  in 
them  where  they  were  inconvenient.  Whatever  interfered 
with  them,  altar  or  image,  or  anything  else,  was  to  be  moved 
out  of  the  way.  By  preaching  and  reading  from  the  pulpit, 
the  priest  was  to  be  diligent  in  impressing  on  the  minds  of 
his  hearers  the  truths  of  Christianity. 

There  were  as  yet  but  few  portions  of  the  Holy  Scrip 
tures  in  Swedish,  printed  in  editions  accessible  to  the  peo 
ple.  •  Neither  the  whole  of  the  Old  or  New  Testament  was 
to  be  had,  except  in  the  large  and  expensive  editions  of 
1526  and  1541.  In  the  year  1530,  Olaus  Petri  expresses 
his  doubt,  whether  the  translation  of  the  New  Testament  of 
1526  was  to  be  found  in  every  priest's  hand.  The  church 
Bible  of  1541,  was  found  at  least  in  every  church,  but  how 
far  it  was  in  common  use,  is  unknown.  Its  form,  its  price, 
and  the  inability  to  read,  were  probably  hinderances  to  its 
general  circulation. 

As  early  as  1530,  Olaus  Petri  proposed  that  the  priest 
should  be  required,  portion  by  portion,  to  read  the  New 
Testament  from  beginning  to  end,  in  order  to  communi- 


REFORMATION   IX    SWEDEN.  409 

cate  a  knowledge  of  it  to  the  people.  He  published  also,  in 
the  same  year,  a  work  on  Luther's  large  catechism ;  and  cate 
chetical  works  appeared  from  time  to  time.  But  the  spe 
cial  book  of  the  people,  the  smaller  catechism  of  Luther, 
was,  as  fur  as  known,  not  yet  printed  in  a  Swedish  trans 
lation.  An  assiduous  attendance  on  public  worship  was 
either  pre-supposed  or  ordered,  and  the  church,  even  for 
catechetical  instruction,  was  the  peculiar  school  of  the  peo 
ple  ;  a  school  for  all  that  related  to  the  knowledge  of  Chris* 
tianity.  Not  only  an  acquaintance  with  the  contents  of  the 
Bible,  but  with  the  catechism,  was  there  to  be  acquired* 
This  was  a  carrying  out  and  an  extension  of  the  measures, 
which,  long  before  the  Reformation,  were  adopted,  or  at  least 
contemplated. 

In  1541,  it  was  proposed,  that  during  Lent  sermons  on  the 
catechism,  should  daily  be  delivered,  and  four  times  a  year 
besides.  The  church  law  of  1571  prescribes,  that  there  shall 
be  sermons  on  the  catechism  in  the  afternoon,  at  least  twice 
a  year  in  towns,  during  the  seasons  of  Advent  and  Lent, 
In  the  country,  at  morning  service,  the  priest  was  to  spend 
half  an  hour  in  preaching  on  the  catechism,  and  another 
half  hour  on  the  gospels.  The  catechism  was  taught  the 
people  by  oral  instruction,  and,  as  is  done  by  Luther  in  the 
preface  to  his  smaller  catechism,  the  clergy  are  admonished, 
plainly,  clearly,  and  in  the  same  words,  to  propound  and 
present  its  doctrines.  It  was  required  that  instruction 
should  be  received  and  kept  up,  and  at  least,  from  the  year 
1540,  none  were  admitted  to  the  Lord's  Supper,  who  could 
not  show  their  acquaintance  with  the  chief  points  of  Chris 
tianity,  the  ten  commandments,  creed,  and  Lord's  prayer  ;  or 
who  could  not  explain  why  they  sought  the  table  of  the  Lord. 

3.— DIVINE    SERVICE,    MORALS,   PURIFYING  OF  THE 
PEOPLE'S    FAITH. 

The  public  worship  had,  from  1529,  in  the  towns  and 
other  places  of  the  land,  and,  from  1544,  over  the  whole 

18 


410  H1STOKY    OF    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

land,  been  placed  on  the  same  footing  in  most  respects, 
which  it  now  holds,  and,  till  1811,  with  scarcely  any  differ 
ence.  There  was  a  strong  disposition  to  promote  unity  and 
uniformity  in  this  respect.  The  bishops  prescribed  changes 
or  improvements  within  their  own  sees,  especially  their  ca 
thedral  churches.  Many  councils,  and  even  the  church  or 
dinance  of  1571,  gave  independent  directions  respect 
ing  mass  or  service  books,  and  manuals  generally.  The 
false  and  superfluous  service  of  the  Roman  church,  was 
allowed  by  degrees  to  die  out,  but  nothing  new  was  added, 
except  the  exhortation  with  which,  till  1811,  the  morning 
service  commenced,  and  the  exhortation  which  is  still  used 
in  the  mass  or  service  of  the  Holy  Communion. 

The  most  important  measure  was  the  publication  of  a 
manual  to  promote  the  exercise  of  preaching  on  every  occa 
sion  of  public  worship.  Complaint  was  made,  in  1571, 
that,  in  popish  times,  "  there  was  either  no  preaching,  or 
such  preaching  as  had  better  be  unpreached."  The  rule 
for  having  preaching  on  every  occasion  of  public  worship, 
was  however  not  absolute.  A  sermon  might  be  delivered, 
but  was  especially  called  for  when  the  Lord's  Supper  was  to 
be  administered. 

The  whole  of  divine  service  was  to  be  in  the  mother-tongue, 
especially  preaching  ;  and  priests  are  admonished  to  speak 
"  pure  Swedish,"  and  to  avoid,  in  unreasonable  measure, 
foreign  words,  "  since  we  ourselves  have  just  as  good  words 
as  any  foreign  tongue  can  produce."  In  1541,  however,  it 
is  permitted  on  high  festivals  to  have  the  mass  or  service  in 
Latin.  In  church  music,  the  use  of  Latin  in  conjunction 
with  Swedish,  was,  till  the  year  1533,  permitted,  and  even 
in  country  churches,  it  was  used  on  the  three  high  festivals. 
In  1571,  Latin  was  permitted  in  singing,  on  condition  that 
it  was  understood  by  some  of  the  congregation.  Psalm 
books,  in  Swedish,  made  their  appearance  from  the  year 
1530,  and  in  1567,  there  was  published  a  book  of:  spiritual 


REFORMATION   IN   SWEDEN.  411 

songs,  under  the  title,  "  The  Swedish  Psalm  Book,"  con 
taining  ninety-nine  psalms,  and  another,  in  1572,  with 
sixty-six  psalms.  But  there  was  yet  no  general  rule  on  the 
subject,  prevailing  over  the  whole  kingdom. 

The  centre  of  the  Roman  church's  divine  service,  was  the 
Lord's  Supper,  as  involving  the  sacrifice  of  Christ,  though 
without  the  shedding  of  blood.  In  1541,  daily  mass  or 
service  is  allowed ;  but  the  priests  were  to  admonish  the 
people  by  catechetical  instruction,  to  celebrate  the  Lord's 
Supper.  Till  1553,  the  mass  of  the  Holy  Communion 
might  be  holden  without  communicants,  although,  even  then, 
the  priests  were  enjoined  so  to  instruct  the  people,  that 
some  guests  might  be  obtained  for  the  holy  ordinance.  For 
the  first  time,  ift  1562,  it  was  expressly  forbidden  to  hold 
the  mass  of  the  Lord's  Supper,  where  no  communicants 
were  present.  How  soon  the  people,  in  large  numbers,  as 
sembled  at  the  table  ef  the  Lord,  and  participated  in  the  sa 
crament,  as  a  spiritual  need,  appears  from  the  so-called 
liquoristic  controversy,  in  king  Erik  XIV. 's  time,  and  from 
the  church  ordinance,  which  permitted  city  churches  to 
have  several  altars,  with  the  reason,  that  the  Lord's  Supper 
might  be  simultaneously  received  at  them  all. 

In  the  use  of  service-cloths  and  other  outward  ornaments, 
there  was  a  variant  practice,  according  to  the  variant  views 
of  bishops,  ordinaries,  and  priests.  The  necessity,  in  the 
beginning  of  king  Erik's  reign,  of  protecting  the  church's 
freedom  in  these  matters,  rather  increased  than  diminished 
their  importance ;  and  at  length  a  church  ordinance  was 
passed  to  the  effect,  that  "  church  attire,  such  as  service- 
cloths,  altar-cloths,  pictures,  images,  lights,  candlesticks, 
crowns,  bells,  are  permissible,  where  not  excessive  or 
abused ; "  and  it  is  ordered,  that  the  priest  "  shall  clothe 
himself  as  was  wont."  The  principles  of  1544  and  1529, 
approached  near  to  each  other. 

The  cathedrals  continued  to  be  regarded  as  the  model 


412  HISTORY    OF    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

churches  of  the  diocese,  and  the  heart  and  centre  of  public 
worship.  Divine  service  was  held  in  them,  a?  generally  in 
the  city  churches,  oftener  than  in  country  churches.  Ab 
solution,  for  the  more  atrocious  crimes,  could  only  be  obtain 
ed  at  the  cathedral,  from  him  who  was  placed  there  as  the 
penitentiary  for  the  whole  diocese,  or  from  one  who  supplied 
his  place.  Divine  service  was  there  more  imposing  than 
elsewhere,  and  after  the  old  canons,  vicars,  korpriests,  and 
others,  that  had  been  employed  in  church  music,  disappeared, 
the  duty  was  performed  by  the  scholars  under  the  direction 
of  the  schoolmaster.  This  duty  was  imposed  on  the  schools 
in  all  towns  where  schools  were  to  be  found,  but  only  on 
holidays,  because  on  ordinary  working  days  no  people  were 
present,  and  for  their  sake  alone  it  was  now  thought  divine 
service  should  be  held. 

Of  old,  each  diocese  had  its  own  method  of  singing  in 
divine  service,  which  method  it  was  the  part  of  the  bishop 
to  regulate.  A  priest,  who  removed  from  one  diocese  to 
another,  and  they  who  remained  in  places  transferred  from 
one  diocese  to  another,  were  to  use  and  observe  that  method 
in  church  music  current  in  the  cathedral  of  the  diocese  to 
which  they  had  last  become  attached. 

The  decree  for  diminishing  the  number  of  saints'  days 
took  effect  in  1529,  when  it  was  left  to  the  bishops  to  act 
in  the  matter,  according  to  circumstances,  and  it  was  re 
peated  in  1544,  with  more  exact  details  in  1571,  when  the 
days  of  patron  saints  being  no  longer  observed,  the  rest  were 
treated  as  still  to  be  continued,  in  addition  to  Sundays  and 
the  usual  holidays.  The  visitation  of  the  Virgin  Mary  and 
the  days  of  the  apostles  were  also  retained  in  the  cathedrals, 
except  St.  Peter's  day,  observed  in  the  Roman  church  on 
the  18th  of  January,  in  commemoration  of  that  apostle 
assuming  the  chair  of  Home.  In  respect  to  keeping  holy 
the  Lord's  day,  a  Christian  freedom  was  allowed.  There 
was,  however,  enjoined  on  that  day  an  attendance  on  divine 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  418 

service,  and  a  rest  from  labor.  During  the  wild  duck  and 
fishing  seasons  the  people  were  permitted  to  work  in  the 
fields  and  meadows  after  divine  service  was  ended. 

The  old  custom  of  confessing  to  the  priest  and  receiving 
absolution  was  continued.  But  with  the  Reformation  came 
also  the  maxims,  that  the  enumeration  of  all  sins  was  not 
necessary,  that  there  need  be  no  fixed  time  for  confession, 
and  that  outward  penance  was  not  to  be  required  as  the 
condition  of  absolution.  The  first  of  these  maxims  was 
absolute.  With  regard  to  the  third,  it  was  declared  to  be 
advisable  that  the  priest  should  counsel  the  penitent  as  to 
his  meat,  drink,  and  apparel.  The  old  custom  of  announ 
cing  to  every  congregation  certain  times  for  confession,  was 
allowed  to  be  continued.  The  country  priests  were  wont 
on  such  occasions  to  assist  each  other,  so  that  many  of  them 
met  at  the  church  where  confession  took  place,  and  the 
person  confessing  addressed  himself  to  which  priest  he  chose. 
But  if  any  important  case  occurred,  it  was  referred  to  the 
pastor  of  the  congregation.  Absolution  was  given  with 
the  laying  on  of  hands  upon  the  head  of  the  absolved.  The 
custom,  which  is  now  the  only  one  that  is  common,  had 
already  commenced,  that  many  persons  confessed  themselves 
at  a  time.  The  priest  examined  one  or  another,  or  none, 
and  then  delivered  to  them  "  a  general  exhortation  from  the 
pulpit,"  and  pronounced  a  general  absolution.  Confession 
was  not  of  necessity  immediately  to  be  followed  by  a  parti 
cipation  of  the  Lord's  Supper.  It  was,  however,  usual  that 
the  guest  of  the  holy  table  first  confessed  and  received  abso 
lution,  and  the  general  observance  of  this  custom  was  the 
means  by  which  the  priest  tested  the  faith  and  morality  of 
those  who  came  to  the  holy  communion.  This  test  is 
recommended  in  repeated  directions,  as  far  back  as  we  find 
any  given  on  such  subjects.  All  were  to  be  able  "  to  pledge 
themselves,"  and  no  one  who  was  in  manifest  wickelness, 
or  in  implacable  enmity,  was  to  be  admitted  to  the  table  of 


414  HISTORY    OF   THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

the  Lord.  The  Lord's  Supper,  for  which  the  rite  of  confir 
mation  was  not  requisite,  could  be  administered  to  children, 
but  not  under  eight  or  nine  years  of  age. 

We  turn  our  attention  to  the  church's  public  and  charita 
ble  care  of  the  poor  and  sick,  a  care  which  from  the  founda 
tion  of  the  Christian  church  was  regarded  as  among  its 
first  duties.  All  the  church's  wealth,  after  provision  had 
been  made  for  its  clergy  and  those  who  served  at  the  altar, 
was  considered  as  belonging  to  the  poor  and  sick.  The 
bishops,  therefore,  began  to  adopt  measures  that  might  be 
lasting  for  this  purpose.  Even  individuals  and  the  monastic 
orders  provided  such  establishments,  all  of  which  at  an 
early  period  in  the  Greek,  and  from  1311,  in  the  western 
church,  were  placed,  unless  they  belonged  to  the  monastic 
orders,  under  the  inspection  and  care  of  the  bishops,  and 
they  were  not  to  be  diverted  from  their  original  destination 
and  end.  In  Sweden,  also,  by  Gustavus  I.'s  explanation 
of  the  recess  or  treaty  of  Westeras,  the  property  appro 
priated  to  hospitals  and  almshouses,  the  abodes  of  the  sick, 
were  exempted  from  the  claims  of  heirs,  and  the  cloisters 
of  the  begging  monks  were  given  to  that  charitable  use. 
How  far  they  were  to  be  regarded  as  belonging  or  not  to 
ecclesiastical  institutions  was  a  point  undetermined. 

The  views  of  king  Gustavus  on  the  subject  corresponded 
with  those  he  had  of  the  church,  and  he  gives  as  his  reason 
for  regulating  the  hospitals  and  almshouses  of  Stockholm, 
that  it  was  a  part  of  his  kingly  office  "  to  know  and  provide 
what  was  best  for  the  poor  as  well  as  for  others."  The 
king  placed  them  either  under  the  charge  of  the  burgomaster 
and  council,  or  appointed  special  persons  for  the  purpose,  or 
intrusted  the  whole  matter  to  the  governor  of  the  district. 
By  the  projected  ordinance  of  1540,  it  was  contemplated 
to  place  such  institutions  nnder  a  conservator.  There  seems 
to  have  been  little  or  no  idea  of  placing  them  under  the  care 
of  the  bishops  and  ordinaries,  and  the  formulary  of  1557, 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  415 

conferring  full  powers  on  the  latter,  makes  no  mention  of 
their  oversight  of  hospitals.  In  1571,  however,  those  of 
them  at  least  which  were  situated  in  the  towns  of  a  diocese, 
were  considered  as  in  some  measure  under  the  care  of  the 
church. 

The  hospitals  attached  to  cathedrals,  were  to  have  room 
and  means  of  support  for  at  least  thirty  sick  persons, 
and  to  provide  nurses  and  attendants.  They  were  em 
powered,  as  before  was  usual,  to  send  out  collectors  of 
alms  furnished  with  a  letter  of  recommendation  from  the 
bishop,  and  when  these  bidders,  as  they  were  termed,  made 
their  appearance  in  a  parish,  its  priest  was  to  urge  upon  his 
flock  the  duty  of  giving  alms.  Every  holiday,  when  the 
people  were  assembled  in  large  numbers  in  church,  a  col 
lection  should  be  made  after  divine  service.  The  immediate 
oversight  of  them  was  committed  to  a  proctor  or  attorney, 
appointed  by  the  burgomaster  and  council,  in  connection 
with  the  bishop,  or  pastor  of  the  church.  Over  the  proctor 
was  placed  one  of  the  burghers,  chosen  for  the  purpose  from 
the  guild,  whose  members  were  called  guardians.  The  ex 
amination  of  accounts  was  intrusted  to  men  chosen  by  the 
burgomaster.  The  pastor  of  the  church  was  every  week 
to  visit  the  hospital,  which  was  to  have  also  its  special 
chaplain.  None  capable  of  work,  none  who  had  relatives 
to  take  care  of  them,  or  had  any  property,  was  to  be  ad 
mitted  ;  in  the  last  named  case  it  was  understood,  that  the 
claim  to  any  inheritance  was  not  to  be  given  up  as  a  con 
dition  of  admittance. 

But  when  these  measures  were  inadequate  to  the  object, 
it  was  advised  that  every  parish  should  have  a  few  rooms 
provided  for  the  sick,  "  so  that  they  who  feared  God  and 
wished  to  do  what  was  right  and  Christian  might  have  an 
opportunity  with  their  alms  and  benevolent  gifts  to  prove 
their  faith  and  brotherly  love  to  their  neighbor."  This 
recommendation  gave  rise  to  parochial  halls  for  the  sick. 


416  HISTORY    OF    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

In  156 1>  there  were  eighteen  public  hospitals  in  the 
kingdom,  two  of  which  belonged  to  Finland.  It  would 
hardly  be  possible  to  say  how  the  public  care  of  the  poor 
and  sick  was  advanced  or  retarded  in  respect  to  income, 
when  after  the  state,  or  church  and  state  together,  took  the 
matter  in  hand,  efforts  were  soon  made  to  place  these  insti 
tutions  under  strict  regulations.  It  seems,  however,  that  as 
they  either  retained  their  property  or  received  appropriations 
from  the  crown,  their  means  of  support  were  not  diminished. 
In  1561,  an  investiture  of  tithes  was  received  by  the  eighteen 
hospitals  of  the  kingdom,  to  the  amount  of  7632  barrels  of 
corn,  beside  the  so-called  St.  Sigifrid's  basket,  to  the  hos 
pital  of  "Wexio.  The  hospital  of  Upsala  had  480  barrels. 
Five  years  before  it  had  received  from  thirty-live  farmers 
about  206  barrels  of  corn,  beside  money  and  day-labor. 
The  hospital  at  Westerns,  which  in  1561  also  received  480 
barrels,  in  1566  had,  beside  money  and  day-labor,  about 
390  barrels,  the  amount  of  church  tithes  from  several  con 
gregations. 

Scarcely  had  Christianity  been  able  to  subdue  the  minds 
of  the  people  of  the  north  of  Europe  to  the  obedience  of 
gospel  faith  and  precept,  an  obedience  tried  by  the  evils 
of  the  papacy  and  a  corrupt  church,  when  the  sixteenth 
centuiy  threatened  the  ruin  of  the  tender  plant.  There 
were  as  yet  few  traces  of  what  may  be  called  humanizing 
influences.  The  habits  of  the  people,  retaining  something 
of  the  old  heathenism,  weakened  the  strength  of  the  Chris 
tian  life,  and  kept  up  a  looser  morality  than  was  consistent 
with  even  that  to  which  the  Roman  church  unconsciously 
paid  homage.  Nor  was  the  cause  of  good  morals  likely  to 
be  promoted  by  a  contest  respecting  the  very  interpretation 
of  the  gospel,  or  that  between  a  tottering  church  discipline 
shaken  at  its  base  and  another  not  yet  established. 

From  this  condition  of  things  were  bred  anarchy  and 
a  contempt  of  religion,  and  in  the  minds  of  others  a  luke- 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  417 

\varm  indifference.  Even  the  more  serious  were  tempted. 
From  the  heat  of  controversy  or  defeat  sprung  hatred,  from 
victory  arrogance.  During  this  breach,  the  old  church 
discipline  must  of  necessity  fall  with  the  hierarchy  which 
was  its  stay.  It  must  fall,  not  only  through  the  absurdity 
of  many  of  its  penances,  which  oftener  injured  than  pro 
moted  its  purpose,  but  through  the  false  principles  on  which 
in  later  times  it  was  based,  when  penance  was  converted 
from  being  a  proof  of  amendment  and  love  to  God,  into  a 
satisfaction  for  sin. 

This  abuse  or  perversion  of  penance  raised  the  question, 
whether  the  discipline  of  the  church  might  not  be  altogether 
resolved  into  a  binding  and  loosing  through  the  word  of 
God,  so  that  he  who  sinned,  by  merely  declaring  his  repent 
ance  and  desire  of  absolution,  should  be  entitled  to  this 
absolution.  In  Sweden,  there  was  no  intention  to  abolish 
all  ecclesiastical  duty,  although  the  mode  and  measure  of 
its  management  were  rendered  difficult,  by  the  uncertain 
limits  of  spiritual  authority.  It  was  exposed,  on  the  one 
hand,  to  the  claims  of  exemption  from  it  rife  among  the 
people,  and  it  was  watched,  on  the  other,  by  the  suspicious 
eye  of  king  Gustavus,  who  found  it  either  too  strong  or 
too  weak. 

From  1526,  submission  to  the  church's  discipline  was 
more  desired  and  sought  to  be  maintained,  in  order  to 
strengthen  the  use  of  the  temporal  sword,  rather  than  from 
a  regard  to  the  word  of  God.  The  reason  is  assigned  at  a 
later  period,  in  1571,  when  it  is  plainly  said,  "The  sword 
does  not  bite  as  it  ought"  the  temerity  and  license  with 
which  "  men  here  almost  universally  commit  sin."  During 
the  period  between  those  years,  as  in  the  ordinantia  of 
Westerns,  in  1544,  in  the  admonition  to  penitence  and  pen 
ance  set  forth  that  year  by  the  king  to  his  people,  and  in 
various  ordinances  either  of  the  king  or  bishops,  a  variety 
of  offences,  such  as  swearing,  perjury,  drunkenness,  intention 


418  HISTORY    OF   THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

to  kill,  and  fornication,  were  denounced  and  declared  pun 
ishable  by  the  civil  and  ecclesiastical  power.  There  is  a  va 
cillation  shown  in  the  church  ordinance  respecting  offences. 
Open  public  confession  and  a  submission  to  the  ecclesiasti 
cal  penalty  enjoined  is  required,  but  only  for  the  grosser 
crimes,  while  it  is  intimated  that  the  general  spread  of  other 
vices  precluded  an  examination  into  them. 

It  was  the  prevalence  of  this  looseness  of  morals  which 
in  a  great  measure  called  forth  the  Reformation,  and,  as  that 
gained  stability,  awakened  in  the  reformers  deep  thought 
and  apprehension,  and  at  a  later  period  produced  what  has 
been  termed  pietism.  Yet  do  not  the  delineations  made  of 
these  times,  though  the  times  are  dark  enough,  exhibit  a 
decadence  from  good  morals  so  deep,  but  that  some,  how 
ever  unreasonably,  might  deny  the  breach  of  the  Reforma 
tion  to  be  on  this  account  necessary.  We  do  not  find  an 
eminent  exemplification  of  improved  morals,  or  any  reason 
for  praise,  further  than  is  always  to  be  implied  from  a  more 
diffused  and  clearer  insight  into  the  religious  grounds  of 
morality,  and  the  transition  from  a  slavish  to  a  free  obe 
dience. 

As  it  is  not  reasonable  to  presume  an  increased  degree 
of  ignorance  among  the  clergy,  at  a  time  when  the  cathe 
dral  schools  remained  unaltered,  and  the  foreign  universities 
were  frequented  more  than  before,  so  is  there  no  reason  to 
impute  to  them  a  greater  degree  of  immorality.  Circum 
stances  might  operate  disadvantageously.  The  disinclination 
of  parents  to  send  their  children  to  school,  and  the  chilling 
effects  of  the  uncertain  position  of  the  clergy,  might  oblige 
bishops,  for  the  maintenance  of  public  worship,  to  ordain 
those  who  were  not  ripe  for  the  office.  To  the  usual,  and 
during  the  strife  of  opinions,  not  easily  removed  obstacles, 
in  the  way  of  an  accurate  inspection  into  the  conduct  of  the 
clergy,  was  added  the  inclination  to  wink  at  and  overlook 
the  transgressions  of  adherents.  Party  interest  is  a  merit 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  419 

which  covers  many  offences.  Another  obstacle  existed  in 
the  uncertain  position  of  the  bishops.  It  was  no  settled 
point  how  far  they  could  proceed  without  exciting  suspicions 
of  a  hierarchical  aim,  and  without  being  disturbed  in  their 
course  of  action,  by  the  immediate  ;nterference  of  the  royal 
power.  King  Gustavus,  moreover,  was  not  disposed  to 
look  with  indifference  upon  the  moral  qualifications  of  the 
clergy,  as  appears  from  many  of  his  letters,  and  the  plenary 
commission  to  G.  Norman  as  superintendent.  The  most 
stern  testimony  against  the  clergy  of  this  period,  are  the 
articles  of  king  John,  in  1569,  issued  soon  after  the  reign  of 
king  Erik,  in  which  he  rebukes  their  ignorance,  gambling, 
love  of  lucre,  loose  and  gross  sensual  habits.  Similar 
charges  are  applicable,  at  the  beginning  of  the  Reformation. 
The  like  are  reiterated  against  the  clergy  who  embraced 
the  liturgy  of  king  John,  and  to  follow  any  practice  is  to 
be  abused  by  its  opposers. 

It  cannot  be  proved  that  the  priests  of  the  first  protestant 
church  were  worse  than  those  who  immediately  preceded  or 
succeeded  them.  That  they  were  better,  cannot  be  shown 
by  witnesses  to  be  cited  from  a  time  that  cared  not  to  write 
its  own  epitaph.  Many  particular  instances  occur,  that 
prove  the  priesthood  to  have  partaken  the  rudeness  of  the 
times,  but  there  is  nothing  to  justify  the  condemnation  of 
the  whole  body.  In  punishing  the  offences  of  priests,  not 
withstanding  the  decree  of  1527  that  they  were  to  stand 
before  the  civil  tribunals  as  other  citizens,  it  was  sometimes 
regarded  as  sufficient  punishment  to  deprive  them  of  office, 
or,  according  to  the  view^of  the  Roman  church  that  official 
character  could  never  be  lost,  displace  them  from  its  exercise. 

We  have  endeavored  to  show,  how,  by  instruction,  admo 
nition,  and  a  Christian-like  regulation  of  public  worship,  it 
was  essayed  to  purify  by  degrees  the  popular  faith  from 
superstition  and  idolatry.  Many  customs  and  usages  which 
the  foregoing  times  approved,  or  which  typified  the  sanctity 


420  HISTORY    OF   THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

of  divine  service  and  a  holy  life,  were  slowly  discontinued, 
until  they  could  with  safety  be  wholly  prohibited,  others 
were  allowed  to  be  continued,  and  of  those  forbidden  many 
were  still  kept  up,  either  as  mysteries  of  piety,  or  as  mere 
popular  superstitions,  or  as  harmless  customs.  The  church 
ordinance  of  1571  prohibits  many  superstitious  practices, 
some  of  which,  it  is  truly  said,  were  abolished,  but  of  which 
the  very  prohibition  proves  the  remembrance  still  to  exist. 
Such  were  the  covering  of  church  images  during  a  fast,  the 
burning  of  incense  and  bowing  before  them,  the  taking 
down  of  the  cross  and  putting  it  up  again  at  certain  seasons, 
the  carry  about  of  images,  and  vigils  for  the  dead. 

Fasting  was  still  enjoined  in  1541,  so  far  as  to  provide 
for  the  observance  of  the  usual  Friday  fast,  but  the  people 
were  to  be  instructed  that  it  was  not  necessary  to  salvation. 
Subsequently  we  are  not  aware  of  any  command  or  pro 
hibition  respecting  fasting,  except  that,  according  to  a 
church  ordinance,  it  might  at  confession  be  enjoined  as  a 
beneficial  exercise.  The  practice  has  been  maintained  to 
the  latest  times. 

In  connection  with  fasting,  there  were  repeated  admoni 
tions,  and  even  in  church  ordinances,  to  the  giving  of  alms. 
Alms  were  given  by  will  to  the  poor,  to  students,  to  churches, 
to  hospitals,  and  to  schools.  In  these  wills  the  cloister  of 
Wadsten  was  still  sometimes  remembered.  We  cannot 
determine  in  what  manner  these  testamentary  devises  to  the 
cloister  were  connected  with  the  belief  in  their  merit,  or 
the  efficacy  of  the  prayers  of  the  nuns.  But  when  we  find 
that  men  gave  money  to  the  cloister  for  the  benefit  of  their 
cattle,  we  may  judge  how  superstition  still  clung  to  these 
institutions. 

It  ought  not  to  be  forgotten  that,  in  1573,  scarce  thirty 
years  had  passed  away  since  a  more  rigorous  purification  had 
been  undertaken  of  the  Roman  church's  customs  and  usages. 
In  many  hearts  was  still  preserved  a  secret  or  less  reserved 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  421 

attachment  to  them,  and  many  still  retained  an  invincible 
affection  for  these  departed  objects.  The  cloister  of  Wadsten 
was  still  alive.  It  was  richly  endowed,  and  had  many  nuns. 
Abbesses  were  elected,  and  on  king  Gustavus's  death,  in 
1560,  a  still  greater  freedom  was  anticipated,  because  in 
that  year  a  nun  assumed  the  monastic  vows.  The  nuns, 
however,  were  dependent  on  the  uncertain  favor  of  the 
king  and  individuals.  King  John  himself,  in  1573,  took 
the  silver  shrine  of  St.  Bridget,  to  be  turned  to  his  own  or 
the  kingdom's  use,  though  nine  years  after  he  gave  a  new 
one.  The  house  and  ground  which  belonged  to  the  cloister 
were  appropriated  by  him  to  the  castle  of  Wadsten,  and 
after  the  town  church  was,  in  1550,  destroyed,  protestant 
worship  was  held  in  the  church  of  the  cloister. 

The  monks  of  Wadsten  had  experienced  severer  treatment 
than  the  nuns.  Two  priests  of  seventy  years  of  age  were 
still  left  in  1570,  who  did  service  as  father  confessors.  The 
one  had  embraced  protestantism,  had  been  promoted  by  king 
Gustavus  to  the  pastoral  charge  of  Haradshammar,  and 
been  married,  but  returned  to  Wadsten  after  the  death  of 
his  wife.  The  other,  Johannes  Pauli  Montigena  or  Monta- 
nus,  so  called  from  his  home  in  the  Koppar  mountain,  had 
entered  Wadsten  as  a  monk,  but  seems  to  have  been  also 
priest  of  the  adjacent  church  of  Hof.  During  the  per 
secution  which  befell  the  monks  of  Wadsten  in  1548,  or 
at  the  time  the  canon  Thurc  was  imprisoned  at  Linkoping, 
Montanus  was  driven  from  the  cloister,  and  as  he  would 
not  submit  he  was  imprisoned  in  the  house  called  Tavast, 
in  1554,  the  same  year  that  Thure  on  recantation  wras  liber 
ated,  and  obtained  permission  to  settle  himself  at  Wadsten. 
By  the  captain  of  Tavast  and  his  wife,  he  was  allowed 
to  preach.  His  books  being  lost,  he  borrowed  others  from 
his  friends  and  those  of  kindred  opinions  with  his  own.  He  here 
compiled,  in  his  prison,  commentaries  in  Latin  upon  the 
gospels  for  Sundays.  These  commentaries,  he  tell  us,  were 


422  HISTORY    OP   THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

drawn  from  the  writings  of  the  fathers  and  schoolmen,  whose 
names  are  given.  This,  if  he  had  those  books  in  hand, 
would  prove  an  improbable  wealth  of  books  in  Finland. 
Pie  dedicated  his  work,  May  24,  1556,  to  the  Roman  arch 
bishop  of  Upsala,  Olaus  Magnus,  still  living  in  Rome.  On 
the  accession  of  John  to  the  throne,  he  was  allowed  to 
return  to  "Wadsten,  where,  in  1578,  he  was  accused  of 
superstitious  practices  and  rebaptizing.  He  reports  him 
self,  at  a  somewhat  earlier  period,  to  have  been  in  Kop- 
parberg  and  in  Hedemora,  where  he  practises  conjurations 
over  the  workers  in  the  mines  and  other  sick  persons,  and, 
at  the  request  of  the  steward,  over  the  huts,  when  the 
work  of  the  mines  was  in  disorder. 

Beside  Wadsten.  there  were  also  found  some  feeble  rem 
nants  of  cloisters  at  Nadendal,  Wreta,  and  Sko.  Nadendal 
had,  in  1578,  four  nuns,  but  in  the  commencement  of  king 
John's  reign  more.  Wreta,  in  1572,  had  three  nuns,  who, 
in  1580,  Avere  still  left.  In  1579,  Sko,  according  to  Posse- 
vin,  had  only  two  nuns.  It  is  to  be  suspected,  from  an 
investiture  given  to  them  that  year,  that  these  convents  had 
more  tenants.  The  havoc  made  with  cloisters  was  a  con 
sequence  of  the  warrant  of  the  times,  issued  against  estab 
lishments  that  little  corresponded  to  the  purpose  for  which 
they  were  designed. 

The  few  persons  left,  that  belonged  to  an  institution 
which  had  been  doomed  with  the  old  church,  were  living 
memorials  of  the  scarcely  foregone  times,  and  their  thoughts 
and  habits  corresponded  to  those  times,  and  kept  up  the  recol 
lection  of  them.  But  others  also  of  the  old  race  had  their 
childhood  recollections  of  those  times.  The  pastor  of  a 
church  from  the  diocese  of  Upsala,  declared  during  the 
deliberations  on  the  consecration  of  a  bishop  for  that  see, 
that  it  would  gladden  him  to  see  the  old  abolished  cere 
monies  restored.  Almost  the  same  language  is  used,  in 
1580,  by  the  papal  ambassador  Possevin  the  Jesuit.  A  cer- 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  423 

tain  Jons  Mansson,  who  went  over  to  the  popish  church, 
sent  from  Rome,  in  1578,  a  letter  and  some  images  of  saints 
to  his  friends  in  Sweden.  He  advises  his  father  to  have 
recourse  to  the  intercessions  of  saints  to  God,  as  his  fore 
fathers  had  done,  and  recommends  his  sister  Catharine  to 
receive  the  image  of  St.  Catharine,  and  take  her  for  a 
patron,  as  our  old  mother  taught  and  commanded  while  she 
lived. 

Possevin  relates,  that  several  persons  had,  on  his  visit  to 
Sweden,  1758,  and  the  two  following  years,  desired  to  con 
fess  to  Roman  priests,  as  their  consciences  would  not  suffer 
them  to  confess  to  the  priests  now  in  the  land ;  and  that  an 
old  farmer  found  his  way  to  him,  having,  on  the  news  that  a 
Roman  priest  had  come,  hastened  to  the  holy  father  with 
part  of  a  rosary  faithfully  kept  for  a  long  time.  The  same 
Possevin  also  says,  that  the  people  in  Gota  and  Finland 
were  obedient  to  the  old  faith.  But  as  he  was  only  a  short 
time  in  Gota,  and  never  in  Finland,  he  can  speak  only  of 
what  he  heard.  How  little  his  report  is  to  be  relied  on  will 
hereafter  be  shown. 

Many  popular  customs  were  retained,  which  had  their 
root  in  the  ideas  of  the  Roman  church,  or  in  the  heathen 
ism  which  she  admitted  into  her  bosom,  giving  them  merely 
Christian  names.  Among  these  was  drinking  to  the  memory 
of  the  dead,  a  practice  which  the  church  ordinance  of 
1571  required  to  be  discontinued  among  the  people  ;  ad 
monishing  the  priests  so  to  instruct  them.  Our  heathen 
fathers  were  wont  to  drink  to  the  memory  of  Thor,  Oden, 
Frey,  and  other  of  the  Asars.  The  Roman  church  allowed 
the  custom  to  be  continued,  but  changed  it  into  draining 
the  feast  cup  to  the  memory  of  God  the  Father,  God  the 
Son,  and  God  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  then  to  that  of  the 
Virgin  Mary,  and  the  other  saints.  These  cups  were  fol 
lowed  by  verses  in  honor  of  the  divine  persons,  or  of  the 
saints  whose  names  were  mentioned  and  invoked. 


424  HISTORY    OF    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

Among  the    principal    resorts  of   superstition,    were  the 
oblation  springs.     Immediately  on  his  return  from  the  diet 
of  "Westerns,  in    1544,  archbishop  Laurentius  Petri  caused 
to  be  taken    to  Upsala  and  burnt    a   crucifix  which  had 
been   erected  at  the  much  frequented  spring  of  Svinegar. 
More  than  twenty  years   afterward,   Laurentius  Petri  re 
lates,  that  they  who  oftenest  frequented  this  spring  made 
offerings  of  money.      Olaus  Petri  had  made  a  catalogue  of 
these  springs,  and  in  his  treatise  sharply  rebuked  the  super 
stitious  rites  practised  at  them  ;  but  the  archbishop  prevented 
the  printing  of  it,  because  he  was  afraid  it  might  produce 
scandal,  and  because  he  hoped  that  these  superstitions  would 
soon  be  forgotten.     But  when,  in  1568,  it  became  known  to 
him   that  an    Englishman,  William  Molteke,   of  a  family 
which,  in   the  middle  ages,   settled   in  Sweden,  had  made 
offerings  at  St.    Ekil's  spring  in  Striingness,    "  with  much 
superstition,  such  as  lights,  saying  of  mass,  and  cross-kis- 
sings,"  the  bishops  were  charged  to  find  out  and  fill  up  all 
such  springs,  unless  necessary  for  domestic  purposes.     This 
had  been  done  by  bishop  Peter  Svart  of  Westerns,  with  the 
spring   of  St.   David  at  Munktorp.     The    priests  were  to 
instruct    the  people  in    their  sermons    that  God  was   not 
pleased  with  such  delusions  and  offerings. 

It  was  natural  that  Sweden  should  pay  her  tribute,  also, 
to  the  generally  current  ideas  and  customs  of  the  times. 
This  remark  is  applicable  to  signs  and  prognostics,  which 
were  everywhere  seen.  Olaus  Petri  preached,  in  1539, 
upon  some  mock  suns  which  appeared  in  the  heavens,  put 
up  in  the  church  a  tablet  on  which  they  were  painted,  and 
interpreted  them  as  a  prognostic  of  punishment  for  the  sins 
of  the  prince.  Astrology  was,  long  after  this  period,  still 
common;  and  it  is  known  that  king  Erik  busied  himself 
with  this  art.  That  the  processes  of  witchcraft,  which 
came  into  use  in  the  previous  century,  were  not  here  un 
known,  appears  from  the  short  but  sharp  order  of  the  ordi- 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  425 

nantia  of  Westerns,  in  1544,  "  that  idle  carls  and  hags, 
where  they  are  found,  shall  be  burnt."  In  1551,  some 
women  in  Dalecarlia  were  accused  of  witchcraft,  whom  the 
king  orders  to  be  sent  to  bishop  Henrik  of  Westeras,  who 
was  commissioned  to  deal  with  them  according  to  circum 
stances. 

In  1541,  there  was  issued  a  strict  prohibition  against 
the  superstitious  observance  of  the  Sabbath,  or  Saturday, 
which  was  pertinaciously  kept  by  numbers  of  people.  This 
prohibition,  however,  must  regard  some  other  than  the 
delusion  which,  in  1544,  was  current  among  some  of  the 
inhabitants  of  Finland,  who  believed  that  the  hard  year  and 
dear  times  were  a  punishment  from  God,  because  they  did 
not  keep  Saturday  holy,  according  to  the  law  of  Moses,  and 
therefore  undertook,  according  to  the  Old  Testament,  to 
celebrate  it  as  a  day  of  rest.  The  occasion  and  extent  of 
this  delusion  are  not  known  to  us.  We  know  it  only  from 
a  letter  of  king  Gustavus,  in  which  he  endeavors  to  en 
lighten  the  deluded,  and  by  admonitions  and  threats  to  bring 
them  to  reason. 

The  Swedish  church  reformation  was  not  the  work  of  a 
party  within  the  church,  but  aimed,  by  a  slow  and  wary 
change,  to  alter  the  whole  condition  of  the  Swedish  church, 
and  win  the  consent  of  the  members  of  all  the  estates. 
From  the  care  and  attention  which  the  church  bestowed  on 
all  within  the  sphere  of  its  efficiency,  Laurentius  Petri,  du 
ring  this  year,  excepted  those  wandering  people  forming  no 
part  of  the  civil  community,  who,  under  the  name  of  Tar 
tars  or  Zingani,  were  from  this  time  an  object  of  the  legis 
lation  of  both  church  and  state.  In  the  church  ordinance 
of  1571  they  are  not  mentioned;  but,  among  some  articles 
which,  at  the  wish  of  the  archbishop,  were  passed  at  the 
diet  of  Stockholm,  in  1560,  was  one  that  the  Tartars  shall 
not  have  priests,  either  to  baptize  their  children  or  bury 
their  corpses.  The  archbishop  abided  firmly  by  this  resolu- 


426  HISTORY    OP    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

tion,  the  reasons  of  which  appear  from  a  letter  written  by 
him,  at  a  later  period.  These  people  were  no  other  than 
wanderers  from  Germany  and  other  regions,  and  had  no 
Christianity.  Pearls  are  not  to  be  cast  before  swine — and, 
therefore,  their  children  were  not  to  be  baptized,  because 
they  would  be  destitute  of  all  Christian  care.  Laurentius 
Petri,  therefore,  regards  the  baptism  of  children,  irrespective 
of  the  care  of  the  congregation  of  believers,  and  a  suretyship 
for  their  Christian  nurture,  to  be  a  superstition  and  abuse. 

The  brief  view  we  have  taken,  shows  the  plant  of  church 
improvement  to  have  been  slowly  advancing  to  maturity,  as 
is  in  general  the  case  with  the  animal  and  vegetative  life  of 
the  north  ;  but  the  plant  was  never  left  without  protection 
and  care,  sheltered  by  watchful  consideration  and  love.  It 
was  a  people's  training,  under  the  hand  of  God,  into  a  full 
possession  of  the  truth.  We  see  the  care  bestowed  upon 
the  object,  but  the  fruit  is  not  always  immediately  visible. 
We  must  take  it  as  a  fact,  that  this  fruit  was  not  wanting. 
A  careful  examination  of  the  memorials  of  these  times,  leaves 
us  no  reason  to  acquiesce  in  the  oft-repeated  opinion  that 
among  the  people  the  grossest  ignorance  prevailed  ;  that  a 
large  portion  of  them  knew  not,  till  the  beginning  of  king 
John  III.'s  reign,  that  they  were  other  than  catholics,  in 
the  sense  of  the  immediately  preceding  period  ;  and  that  a 
crafty  policy  introduced  a  change,  by  the  retention  of  the 
old  forms. 

The  first  is,  without  doubt,  a  rash  judgment  on  a  people 
among  whom  the  work  of  enlightenment  was  carried  on  by 
the  persevering  vigor  and  freshness  of  oral  instruction, 
although  book-learning  was  as  yet  not  common.  No  less 
precipitate  is  the  other  judgment  on  a  people  whose  nobles, 
bishops,  priests,  merchants,  burghers,  and  commonalty,  took 
part  in  drawing  up  the  decrees  of  reform.  This  judgment 
cannot  affect  the  nobles,  of  whom  a  great  portion,  from  the 
middle  of  the  century,  were  remarkable  for  a  high  degree  of 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  427 

culture ;  not  the  clergy,  who,  in  the  education  they  received 
at  home  and  abroad,  imbibed  an  abhorrence  of  the  papacy, 
of  which  their  preaching,  their  learned  books,  their  contro 
versial  writings,  and  their  pastoral  letters,  are  a  witness  ; 
not  the  burghers,  who,  by  the  interests  of  their  professions 
and  trades,  and  by  communication  with  foreigners,  were 
compelled  to  become  acquainted  with  the  occurrences  of  the 
times.  With  not  more  propriety  can  it  affect  the  common 
alty,  who  stood  in  connection  with  all  these  classes  of  society ; 
who,  from  the  times  of  the  Engelbrects  and  Stures,  awaked 
to  war  for  their  freedom  ;  who  now  saw  the  cloisters  in 
their  vicinity  fall  or  tumble  into  ruin,  and  were  a  witness 
to  the  changed  condition  of  public  worship ;  who  more  than 
once  were  ready  to  meet  with  violence  every  more  violent 
change. 

It  was  not  possible  that  this  people,  the  commonalty  of 
the  realm,  whose  representatives  were  present  in  1527  and 
1544  at  Westeras,  could  be  ignorant  of  a  change,  which  only 
a  wilful  silence  could  have  hindered  their  priests  from  bring 
ing  before  them,  repeatedly  admonished  as  those  priests  were, 
by  preaching  and  instruction,  to  win  the  consent  of  the 
people  to  the  reforms.  Even  if  this  were  not  absurd,  the 
people  themselves,  under  the  influence  of  traditional  know 
ledge,  must  have  made  the  comparison  between  now  and 
then.  King  John  III.,  indeed,  says  that  his  people  knew 
not  but  that  they  were  catholics ;  but,  as  he  says  this  as  a 
reason  against  the  change  in  the  mass  or  public  services, 
which  was  demanded  by  Rome,  he  shows  the  injustice  of 
supposing  that  the  change  had  taken  place  without  the  eye 
of  the  people  being  opened.  The  word  catholic,  too,  is  am 
biguous  :  to  be  taken  in  general  opposition  to  protestant,  or 
as  synonymous  with  Roman  catholic. 

In  conclusion,  the  judgment  passed  on  the  changes  made, 
that  they  were  effected  by  craft  and  policy,  is  the  judgment 
of  the  men  of  the  Roman  church  on  the  Lutheran  reforma- 


428  HISTORY    OF    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

tion  in  general.*  They  could  not  apprehend,  as  opposed  to 
"  a  rooting  up  of  the  tree  of  Christianity,"  the  principles  of 
the  Evangelical  Lutheran  church,  which  was  to  disavow  the 
exclusive  right  of  the  Roman  church  to  the  old  doctrine, 
customs,  and  usages  of  the  church ;  and,  in  purging  away 
errors  and  abuses,  to  assert  the  privilege  of  proving  all 
things,  and  holding  fast  that  which  is  good. 

*  Possevin,  the  Jesuit,  says  :  "  They  retained  in  their  temples  the  old  rites, 
in  external  appearance.  It  was  a  fraud  of  Luther,  by  which  the  people  were 
deceived,  that  the  name  of  mass  was  retained,  and  parts  of  it  recited,  though 
in  the  popular  tongue,  together  with  surplices,  images  (except  where  Calvin 
ism  crept  in),  and  things  of  that  kind." 


REFORMATION   IN    SWEDEN,  429 


CHAPTER    II. 

TRANSACTIONS  IN  THE  CHURCH  IN  EUROPE,  BEFORE  1573 —BISHOPS 
AND  OTHER  IMPORTANT  MEN  IN  THE  CHURCH  AT  THIS  PERIOD.— 
KING  JOHN  AND  THE  ROYAL  HOUSE.— FIRST  ATTEMPTS  OF  THE  RO 
MAN  CHURCH  TO  FORM  NEW  ENGAGEMENTS  WITH  SWEDEN. 

SCARCE  had  the  archbishop,  Laurentius  Petri,  so  worthy 
of  reverence,  and  full  of  years  and  honor,  passed  to  the  re 
pose  of  the  grave,  when,  by  degrees,  flamed  forth  the  contest 
which  for  tAventy  years  divided  the  princes  and  senators  of 
Sweden,  its  bishops,  priests,  and  learned  writers,  into  two 
conflicting  parties.  To  these  may  be  added  a  third,  which 
consisted  of  foreigners,  who  came  into  the  country  and  drew 
some  of  the  natives  to  their  side. 

Laurentius  Petri,  at  the  close  of  his  life,  in  the  conviction 
that  she  ought  to  unite  herself  with  a  stronger  ecclesiastical 
society,  had  approximated  the  Swedish  church  to  the  Ger 
man  evangelical  Lutheran.  That  some  genuine  and  estab 
lished  connection  could  be  effected.,  was  scarcely  made  a 
question.  This  connection,  however,  was  interfered  with 
by  the  sort  of  freedom  which,  in  1526  and  1555.  this  latter 
church  was  allowed — the  liberty,  on  the  part  of  the  princes 
and  estates,  to  choose  the  confession  of  faith  that  was  to  be 
proclaimed.  All  connection  had  thus  the  aspect  of  a  state 
relation  ;  and  we  have  seen,  in  the  foregoing  pages,  how  the 
negotiations  were  carried  on  in  king  Gustavus's  time. 

But  Lutheranism  itself  was  not  long  indefinite.  Its  first 
written  confessions  of  faith,  and  chiefly  the  Augsburg  con 
fession,  were  a  project  of  reform  whose  adherents,  when  it 


430  HISTORY    OF   THE   ECCLESIASTICAL 

was  laid  before  the  estates  of  Germany,  in  1530,  appealed,  if 
it  was  not  approved,  to  a  general  council  of  the  church. 
The  author  of  this  Augsburg  confession,  Melancthon,  in 
1540,  conceived  himself  at  liberty,  on  his  own  motion,  to 
make  alterations  in  it ;  and  in  1545,  when  the  council  of 
Trent  was  opened,  the  protestants  were  prevented  from  par 
ticipating  in  that  assembly  from  objections  to  its  structure. 
The  so-called  Interim,  which  went  into  operation  after  the 
year  1548,  was  framed  on  the  principle  of  a  future  accom 
modation  of  differences,  by  means  of  an  ecclesiastical  coun 
cil.  From  that  time  a  sterner  determination  began  to 
manifest  itself,  and  after  the  decrees  of  the  Tridentine  coun 
cil  gave  the  papal  church  a  confession  of  faith,  which  estab 
lished  as  the  law  of  the  church  the  errors  and  abuses  cen 
sured  by  protestants,  the  two  ecclesiastical  bodies  stood 
poised  against  each  other,  and  the  Augsburg  confession 
became  the  recognized  formula,  in  contradistinction  to  both 
popery  and  Calvinism. 

It  was  not  long  that  men  were  generally  content  with  this 
rigorous  antagonism,  in  which  there  appeared  to  many  an 
excess  that  on  either  side  went  beyond  the  truth.  Lovers 
of  moderation  have  at  all  times  been  found,  and  after  the 
publication  of  the  decrees  of  the  council  of  Trent,  in  1564, 
there  was  a  Roman  catholic  party  dissatisfied  with  the  rigid 
maintenance  and  objectionable  structure  of  the  church's  doc 
trine  and  discipline  resulting  from  that  council. 

These  ideas  of  moderation  began  to  be  diffused,  after  the 
middle  of  the  centuiy,  through  those  countries  which  had 
been  shaken  by  the  Reformation ;  in  most  places  without 
fruit ;  the  issue  of  a  mediating  policy  where  the  contest  is 
for  principles.  England,  from  the  accession  of  queen  Eliza 
beth  to  the  throne,  in  1558,  was  happy  in  establishing  a 
church  government  that  was  neither  Roman  nor  protestant, 
but  might  be  said  to  be  botli  combined.  In  France  and 
Navarre  there  was,  about  the  year  1560,  a  moderate  party, 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  431 

that  recognized  the  defects  of  the  old,  and  was  on  its  guard 
against  the  extravagances  of  the  new  preachers.  This  party 
endeavored  to  find  a  medium  by  which,  according  to  the 
standard  of  holy  Scripture  and  the  primitive  church,  the 
church  might  be  made  better  with  the  least  possible  change. 
In  Poland,  king  Sigismund  Augustus  II.,  brother  to  the  first 
wife  of  king  John  III.,  had,  in  1555,  requested  permission 
of  pope  Paul  IV.  to  hold  a  national  council  in  Poland,  for 
the  reconciling  of  controversies  of  faith ;  with  a  view,  also, 
to  the  partaking  of  the  Lord's  supper  in  both  kinds,  the 
marriage  of  priests,  and  the  celebration  of  divine  service  in 
the  mother-tongue.  In  protestant  Germany,  Melancthon 
and  his  school,  to  a  great  extent,  united  themselves  to  this 
moderate  party. 

Among  those  who  were  dissatisfied  with  the  council  of 
Trent,  was  the  Romish  emperor  Ferdinand  I.,  the  rather 
that  he  found  himself  deceived  in  the  flattering  hope  that  the 
council  and  pope  would  follow  out  his  views  respecting 
Germany.  The  Caesar  now  determined,  as  his  brother  and 
predecessor,  Charles  V.,  had  done  in  1548,  to  help  himself 
by  means  of  the  Interim,  and  at  least  for  his  own  land,  to 
endeavor  to  effect  an  accommodation  between  the  church 
parties.  Seeking  to  find  a  man  who  could  promote  an  ac 
commodation  between  the  parties,  his  attention  was  directed 
to  George  Cassander,  a  Belgian  theologian,  celebrated  for 
learning  and  compliant  principles.  He  was  called  to  Vienna, 
but  as  sickness  prevented  his  personal  appearance,  he  wrote 
down  his  opinions  respecting  the  articles  of  faith  in  dispute 
between  catholics  and  protestants,  which,  as  Ferdinand 
meanwhile  died,  were  sent  to  his  son,  Maximilian  II. 

In  his  answer  to  the  letter  of  invitation,  Cassander  says  : 
"  I  find  for  the  church  of  the  present  time  no  other  council 
or  help  than  to  explore  the  mind  and  judgment  of  the  prim 
itive  church,  in  order  that,  as  far  as  is  practicable,  the 
present,  which  is  propagated  from  that,  may  be  renovated, 


432  HISTORY   OP   THE   ECCLESIASTICAL 

in  conformity  to  its  constitution  and  discipline."  He  be 
lieved  that  thus  both  parties  might  be  satisfied.  In  his 
opinion,  therefore,  he  put  the  primitive  church,  anterior  to 
the  age  of  Constantino  the  great,  as  the  judge  between  the 
contending  parties.  He  did  not  spare  the  Roman  church. 
He  allows  that  the  right  of  its  bishops  to  precedence  in  the 
church  was  abused,  disapproves  the  withholding  of  the  cup 
from  laymen  in  the  Lord's  supper,  explains  the  sacrifice  of 
the  mass  in  a  manner  to  remove  or  diminish  its  reproach, 
speaks  cautiously  of  transubstantiation,  condemns  solitary 
masses,  urges,  in  regard  to  the  circumstances  of  the  times, 
the  discontinuance  of  enforced  celibacy,  and  rejects  the  wor 
ship  of  saints.  In  respect  to  the  question  of  faith  and  good 
works,  he  adopts  the  moderate  views  put  forth  in  Charles 
V.'s  Interim. 

We  shall  soon  find  how  this  production,  which  was  gene 
rally  acceptable  in  Austria,  exerted  a  great  influence  on  the 
Swedish  church.  On  the  same  platform  with  Cassander 
stood  king  John  and  the  lilurgic  party. 

In  all  the  important  posts  within  the  Swedish  church, 
stood,  in  1573,  those  men  who,  in  purity  of  life  and  church 
activity,  were  the  disciples  of  the  aged  Laurentius  Petri,  and 
most  of  them  had  brought  home  their  learning  from  the 
academies  of  Wittenberg  and  Rostock.  Laurentius  Petri, 
strong  in  his  principles  but  mild  in  their  application,  had 
during  almost  his  whole  life  acted  upon  the  conciliatory 
though  energetic  policy  which  his  church  ordinance  dis 
plays.  At  the  close  of  his  day  he  had  zealously  and  suc 
cessfully  contended  against  the  hot  puritanism  which  here, 
as  elsewhere,  aimed  at  currency  by  a  secret  or  open  connec 
tion  with  Calvinism.  The  university  of  Wittenberg,  through 
Melancthon  and  his  school,  had  become  suspected'  in  the 
eyes  of  the  more  rigid  Lutherans. 

In  general  it  may  be  said,  that  in  the  protestant  church 
of  Germany  many  minds  became  perverted  who  were  not 


X    SWEDEN  43$ 

fast  rooted  in  the  truth.  In  the  search  for  a  fi'rm  confession 
of  faith,  the  Avar  of  controversy  flamed  forth  attended  with 
the  bitterest  hate.  University  rose  against  university  ;  the 
princes  embraced  opposite  parties  ;  the  dukedom  of  Saxony 
was  arrayed  against  the  electorate  ;  the  evangelical  Lutheran 
•against  the  Calvinist ;  the  pure  Lutherans  against  the  Me- 
lancthonians  and  cryptocalvinists.  On  many  points,  as  those 
of  justification,  the  Lord's  supper,  and  church  authority, 
these  strifes  made  an  irruption  into  the  domain  of  the  life 
of  faith,  and  disturbed  its  holy  peace.  The  Roman  church 
did  not  conceal  its  joy  over  a  discord  from  which  was  hoped 
the  self-overthrow  and  self-destruction  of  protestantism. 

In  1573,  on  the  death  of  archbishop  Laurentius  Petri, 
there  was  still  no  provost  of  Upsala.  The  pastor  of  the 
church  was  Joachim  Olai,  who  was  "born  in  Stockholm  and 
had  studied  at  Wittenberg.  More  conspicuous,  both  for 
learning  and  firmness  of  mind,  than  even  this  eminent  man, 
were  the  first  professors  or  readers  in  the  newly  established 
academy,  Laurentius  Petri  Gothus,  soon  called  to  the  post 
of  his  namesake  and  father-in-law  as  archbishop,  Petrus 
Jona>,  and  Olans  JonaB  Luth,  both  from  Helsingland,  both 
students  at  Rostock,  the  latter  at  Wittenberg  also,  which  he 
visited  in  1570,  when  Petrus  had  been  two  years  teacher  at 
Upsala,  and  the  fourth  the  reader  Petrus  Benedict,  from 
Oeland,  who  in  1558  began  his  studies  at  Rostock.  Among 
the  pastors  of  the  diocese,  in  all  respects  the  foremost  was 
Andreas  Laurentii  Bjornram  of  Geile,  son  of  king  Gusta- 
vus's  faithful  and  heroical  field-marshal,  Lars  Oloffson.  He 
had  studied  at  Rostock,  at  whose  academy,  in  155G,  he  was 
matriculated. 

In  Linkoping  the  episcopal  chair  was  filled  by  the  learned 
and  valiant  Martinus  Olai,  who  had  been  previously  ordi 
nary  of  Gefle.  In  the  most  important  post,  as  pastor  at 
Wadstcn,  stood  Jesper  Marci,  whose  name  we  find  not  on 
the  register  of  either  Wittenberg  or  Rostock. 

19 


434  HISTORY    OF   THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

After  Erik  Svart  resigned  his  episcopal  oiFice  at  Skara, 
his  place  was  filled  by  Jacobus  Johannis,  who  had  been  pre 
viously  ordinary  of  Orcbro.  Of  his  youth  and  studies  we 
know  nothing,  though  he  was  afterward  zealous  for  the 
conciliating  party.  He  lived  to  the  following  century. 

Nicholas  Olai  held,  from  1562,  the  see  of  Striingness.  A 
more  arduous  situation  could  scarcely  be  found  in  the  Swe 
dish  church ;  its  occupant  being  required,  at  the  same  time, 
to  use  his  influence  in  the  district  that  composed  his  see,  for 
the  conflicting  interests  of  the  two  brothers,  the  king  and 
duke  of  the  realm.  The  pastor  of  the  city  church  was 
Rcinold  Ragvaldi,  who  was  born  in  Striingness,  and  wrhose 
name,  in  1555,  is  found  enrolled  on  the  registers  of  Rostock 
and  Wittenberg. 

John  Ofeg,  known  in  the  church  controversies  from  the 
time  of  king  Erik,  was  bishop  of  Westeras  till  his  death,  in 
1574.  Next  him  in  eminence,  was  the  provost  and  reader 
of  theology,  Erasmus  Nicolai,  who  had  studied  at  Witten 
berg  until  1562,  and  was  subsequently  schoolmaster  in  his 
native  town  of  Arboga,  pastor  of  Westeras,  ordinary  of 
Stora  Tuna,  till  this  office  being  resigned,  he  was  made 
provost  and  court  preacher  to  king  John.  The  school 
master  of  Westeras  was  Salomo  13ergeri,  a  student  of 
Rostock.  Both  these  men  were  distinguished,  Erasmus  as 
bishop  of  Westeras,  Salomo  as  provost  of  that  city  and 
court  chaplain,  and  for  a  short  time  steward  of  the  church 
at  Stockholm. 

The  see  of  Wexio,  was  worthily  occupied  by  bishop 
Nicholas  Canuti,  who  died  in  1576.  The  provost  and  pas 
tor  was  Nicholas  Stephani,  named  in  1570  as  superintendent 
of  Jemtland,  but,  on  Sweden  resigning  the  spiritual  juris 
diction  of  this  province  to  Denmark,  he  was  made  bishop 
of  Wexio. 

Of  the  Finnish  dioceses,  Abo  was  occupied  from  1563 
by  Paulus  Juusten,  whom,  broken  by  age  'and  a  three  years' 


REFORMATION   IN   SWEDEN.  435 

imprisonment  in  Russia,  king  John  sent  to  this  see  in  1572, 
where  he  died  four  years  after.  The  see  of  Wiborg  was 
filled  by  Erik  Herkepe.  Both  these  men  were  disciples  of 
Melancthon. 

Of  the  former  ordinaries  we  have  still  to  mention  two, 
both  belonging  to  the  Smaland  divisions  of  the  diocese  of 
Linkoping,  but  unlike  in  disposition  and  tone  of  mind. 
The  one  is  the  quiet  and  contented  Andreas  Torchilli, 
pastor  of  Jonkoping,  who,  in  1583,  declined  the  offer  of  the 
archbishopric,  doubtless  from  his  native  modesty,  in  ex 
change,  on  the  abolition  of  the  office  of  ordinary,  for  that 
of  a  bishopric  or  provostship.  The  other  is  the  restless  and 
ambitious  Petrus  Caroli,  who,  in  1538,  eight  years  before 
Luther's  death,  had  studied  at  Wittenberg.  In  1540,  he 
is  said  to  have  been  schoolmaster  at  Linkoping,  and  to  have 
aided  king  Gustavus  in  the  changes  made  respecting  tithes 
and  church  property,  and  in  the  rooting  out  of  popery, 
being  made  pastor  of  Skeninge  and  ordinary  of  Kalmar. 
As  belonging  to  the  dukedom  of  Erik,  he  won  the  con 
fidence  and  support  of  that  prince  and  king,  and  was  an 
intimate  friend  of  Goran  Persson,  in  whose  views  and  secret 
purposes  he  was  supposed  to  be  well  informed  and  interested. 
In  vain  he  protested  his  innocence  regarding  the  murder  of 
Sture,  against  whom  it  was  believed  that  he,  as  newly 
connected  with  king  Erik,  had  irritated  that  prince  with 
false  tales. 

After  the  dethronement  of  king  Erik,  disgrace  and  im 
prisonment  overtook  him  from  king  John,  who  now  united 
Kalmar  and  Oeland  to  the  see  of  Wexio.  But  king  John, 
finding  him  well  disposed  and  useful  for  his  church  plans, 
restored  him  to  favor,  and  he  became  bishop  of  Linkoping. 
Since  his  own  times,  he  has  been  severely  faulted  for  auda 
city,  the  love  of  power,  and  covetousness.  Justice  demands 
that  he  be  commended  for  what  is  apparent  from  his  ac 
tions  when  closely  examined,  his  active  zeal,  for  discipline 


436  HISTORY    OF    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

within  his  diocese,  and  his  fostering   care   of  science  and 
learning. 

Laurentius  Olai  Gestricius,  the  undaunted  champion  of 
Calvinism,  being  dead,  the  city  of  Stockholm  had,  in  1565, 
Olans  Petri  from  Medelpad  as  pastor  of  its  principal  church. 
He  was  a  man  of  great  respect  and  influence,  and  was  sur 
rounded  and  supported  by  the  men  of  Norland,  pupils  of 
the  school  of  Gefle,  foremost  in  opposition  to  John  III.'s 
plans  of  reform. 

At  his  side  in  office,  from  1573,  and  afterward  in  the 
controversies  in  which  he  was  engaged,  stood  Abraham 
Andreas  from  Angerinanland.  Of  his  youth  we  merely 
know  what  he  himself  tells  us,  that  the  reformer  Olaus 
Petri  was  the  first  guardian  of  his  youth,  that  the  pastor 
of  Upsala,  Erik  Petri  Ilelsingus,  was  his  godfather,  and  the 
above-named  Laurentius  Olai  his  teacher  in  the  school  of 
Gefle.  He  appears  to  have  studied  at  Wittenberg,  and  in 
1564,  to  have  stayed  at  Rostock.  A  restless  and  persever 
ing,  perhaps  somewhat  daring  energy  in  gaining  a  purposed 
object,  is  testified  by  the  letters  he  wrote  at  this  period.  It 
brought  him  greatness  and  honor,  but  at  last  became  his 
ruin.  He  was  greater  in  prosperity  than  in  adversity. 

We  turn  from  the  priests  to  the  laymen,  to  take  a  hasty 
glance  at  the  council  and  high  nobles  of  the  kingdom,  who, 
by  their  education  and  the  interest  they  took  in  the  church, 
which  at  this  time  was  foreign  to  no  Swede,  even  as  civilians 
were  induced  to  bend  their  energies  to  ecclesiastical  inquiries. 
First  of  all,  comes  forward  the  sister's  son  of  king  Gustavus, 
Peter  Brahe,  who,  with  Gabriel  Kristersson  Oxensticrna, 
took  his  seat  in  behalf  of  the  church  among  the  councillors 
of  the  kingdom,  at  the  important  diet  of  Westerns  in  1544. 
He  was  made  chief  justice  in  1569,  and  died  in  1591,  gen- 
rally  esteemed  for  learning,  wisdom,  and  moderation.  Next, 
are  the  illustrious  Erik  Sparre,  a  man  of  learning  and  great 
genius,  Hogenskild  Bjelke,  of  a  highly  cultivated  under- 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  437 

Standing,  and  Nils  Gyllcnstjerna,  for  his  quickness  of  con 
trivance  and  conciliatory  address,  admired  and  caressed  by 
all  parties.  Many  more  might  be  mentioned.  A  great 
portion  of  these  appear,  however,  in  church  questions  to 
have  depended  upon  the  prevailing  views  of  the  court. 
The  Frenchman,  Ponlus  Do  La  Gardie,  who,  in  1565, 
entered  the  Swedish  service,  took  an  active  part  as  a  courtier 
in  matters  of  faith. 

The  men  who,  under  the  name  of  secretaries,  stood  first 
in  the  king's  chancery,  were  of  special  eminence  and  influ 
ence  both  by  their  position  and  their  high  culture.  Of  these 
a  large  number,  if  not  all,  had  studied  at  the  foreign 
academies.  The  most  effective,  and  one  of  the  leaders  in 
the  church  during  the  transactions  of  the  subsequent  years, 
was  Petrus  Michaelis  Fecht,  provost  and  afterward  bishop 
of  Westeras,  the  friend  and  fellow-student  of  Erasmus.  He 
was  probably  born  in  Stockholm.  Supplied  with  means 
by  the  burgomaster  and  burghers  of  that  city,  he  went 
to  Wittenberg,  where  he  was  enrolled  as  a  student  in  1558, 
on  the  same  day  as  Erasmus.  He  became  a  master  in  1561, 
but  was  still  there  three  years  after.  In  1571,  he  was  placed 
in  the  chancery  by  king  John,  and  two  years  after,  he 
had  the  oversight  of  the  printing  of  books  in  the  kingdom 
committed  to  him.  He  was  ordained  priest,  and  for  some 
time  engaged  in  matters  relating  to  schools.  Abraham 
Andreie  Angerman,  one  of  his  most  persevering  opponents, 
bears  witness  after  his  death,  but  while  the  controversy  still 
burned  in  the  kindling  of  which  Fecht  took  part,  that  he 
was  a  man  of  much  learning  and  much  respect,  and  that  he 
showed  special  zeal  for  the  interests  of  the  church  and 
priesthood.  Possevin,  who  never  personally  knew  him,  says- 
tliat  he  was  in  regard  to  his  office  quite  a  learned  person. 

Not  less  than  any  of  the  men  of  the  church  and  state, 
and  more  than  most,  the  royal  house  itself  is  conspicuous 
in  the  history  of  the  church,  not  only  on  account  of  the 


438  HISTORY    OP    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

weight  of  its  power,  but  the  part  it  took  in  the  experiments 
and  decrees  that  wrought  the  exhaustion  of  the  church. 

Of  king  Gustavus's  four  sons,  two  were  removed  from 
the  controversy,  Erik  by  his  imprisonment  after  his  brother's 
taking  possession  of  the  crown,  and  Magnus  by  his  mental 
imbecility,  in  consequence  of  which  his  dukedom  of  Ostcr- 
gotland  was  administered  by  the  king.  Mention  will  be 
made  in  the  following  pages  of  such  of  king  Gustavus's 
daughters  as  participated  in  these  movements.  Respecting 
the  two  other  sons,  John  and  Charles,  the  church's  history 
of  the  succeeding  period  has  much  to  say. 

Duke  Charles  was  a  child  not  ten  years  old  at  his  father's 
knee,  when  that  father,  shortly  before  his  death,  took  a 
solemn  farewell  of  his  people,  and  uttered  words  which 
then,  as  always,  no  Swedish  man  can  hear  without  emotion. 
More  than  any  other  of  the  sons  the  heir  of  his  father's 
vigor  and  gravity,  he  perhaps,  also,  as  is  wont  with  the 
youngest  son  who  has  lost  his  father,  held  in  deeper  rever 
ence  and  honor  that  father's  memory.  When  a  child  of 
but  ten  years  old,  he  is  said  to  have  often  carefully  read 
and  meditated  on  his  father's  will,  which,  besides  advice  as 
to  temporal  concerns,  admonished  him,  "  not  to  be  drawn 
from  God's  pure  word,  not  to  be  afraid  or  flinch,  but  hold 
to  it  with  firmness."  King  Erik  took  great  care  to  carry  on 
and  complete  the  training  and  education  of  his  youngest 
brother,  to  whom,  in  that  king's  palace,  where  Beurreus  was 
staying,  and  amid  the  controversies  of  the  period,  1560,  strict 
protestantism,  and  the  nice  distinctions  between  papists, 
Lutherans,  and  Calvinists,  could  not  be  unfamiliar.  When 
he  was  about  eighteen  years  of  age,  at  which  time  he  parti 
cipated  in  the  dethronement  of  king  Erik,  he  entered  upon 
the  charge  of  his  dukedom,  which  beside  the  whole  of  Strung- 
ness,  included  the  diocese  of  Skara  with  the  districts  of  Verm- 
land,  and,  from  1571,  Vaclsbo  and  Valla  in  West  Gothland. 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  439 

Respecting  the  rights  of  princes  over  the  church  within  their 
dukedoms,  there  was  no  specific  direction  in  the  will  of  king 
Gustavus.  The  priests  of  the  dukedom  participated,  like 
others  of  the  kingdom,  in  ecclesiastical  councils,  and  in  the 
mutual  deliberations  that  concerned  the  church.  This  may 
specially  be  noticed  of  the  see  of  Strangncss,  whose  bishop 
and  clerical  representatives  were  present  and  subscribed  the 
proceedings  of  the  council  of  Upsala,  in  1572,  and  even 
those  of  the  following  year. 

Something  has  already  been  said  of  king  John's  charac 
ter  and  education.  It  is  probable,  that  even  he  in  early 
youth  received  instruction  from  Beurreus,  and  that  thus  the 
seed  of  Calvinism  was  early  sown  in  his  mind — sown  in  a 
thankless  soil.  His  mind  was  piously  inclined,  and  once, 
when  he  was  a  child,  staying  with  his  parents  at  Gripsholm, 
he  ran  frightened  to  his  mother's  arms,  exclaiming  that  he 
saw  the  form  of  the  Crucified  enter  the  room  and  approach 
him.  Pie  was  then  four  years  old,  and  the  narrative,  which 
refers  to  the  year  1541  or  1542,  may  serve  to  show 
the  turn  of  mind  and  impress  of  his  early  character. 
A  monk  of  "VVadsten  had  foretold  him  when  a  lad/ that 
he  would  wear  the  kingly  crown.  The  fulfilment  of  the 
prediction  contributed  to  win  for  the  cloister  his  royal  favor. 
When,  at  a  later  period,  the  books  of  Calvin  predisposed 
him  to  the  views  of  that  Genevan,  a  Lutheran  proposed  to 
him,  as  an  antidote,  the  reading  of  the  works  of  the  church 
father  Cyril  of  Alexandria,  in  order  to  settle  the  purity  of 
his  faith  in  the  Lord's  Supper.  This  study  turned  his  at 
tention  and  his  love  to  the  writings  of  the  church  fathers. 
From  Calvinism  he  was  soon  fully  weaned.  The  edict  he 
issued  at  the  beginning  of  his  reign,  wherein  he  "gave 
warning  to  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  kingdom  who  would 
not  unite  in  God's  word  and  our  religion,"  must  have  been 
aimed  at  the  religious  patent  of  king  Erik,  which  spoke 
especially  well  of  the  Calvinists. 


440  HISTORY    OF   TIIE    ECCLESIASTIC  AT. 

How  much  the  divisions  in  the  protestant  church  of 
Germany  wrought  on  king  John  will  hereafter  appear. 
In  his  prison  at  Gripsholm,  where  he  had  time  and  oppor 
tunity  "  to  converse  with  his  books,"  he  continued  his  read 
ing  of  the  works  of  the  church  fathers.  On  their  contents 
and  arguments  he  discoursed  with  his  wife's  chaplains, 
among  whom  are  mentioned  one  Albert  and  Polacken 
Herbst.  These  men  were  not  nurtured  in  Jesuitical  colleges, 
or  in  the  principles  of  the  council  of  Trent.  They,  there 
fore,  entered  into  John's  views  of  recognizing  the  fountain  of 
truth  to  be,  not  the  church  as  it  then,  existed  under  the  sup 
position  of  iis  being  developed  by  the  immediate  inspiration 
of  the  Holy  Ghost  through  the  episcopate  and  papal  head, 
but  in  the  Holy  Scriptures,  as  the  church  fathers  set  forth 
its  doctrines  and  bore  witness  to  the  faith  and  worship  of 
the  primitive  church.  The  Jesuit  Posscvin,  more  indoc 
trinated  by  the  spirit  of  the  new  era,  therefore  remarks, 
that  if  these  chaplains  "  had  been,  as  should  be  carefully 
attended  to  in  the  choice  of  such  persons,  better  grounded 
in  the  doctrines  of  faith  and  the  church's  mode  of  contro 
versy,  it  is  probable  they  had  long  ago  been  able  to  bring 
John  over  to  the  Roman  church." 

The  convictions  respecting  Christian  faith  and  the  church 
which  John  III.  entertained,  were  the  result  of  his  thoughts 
and  studies  within  the  walls  of  his  prison  at  Gripsholm. 
They  influenced  his  mind,  from  the  hour  he  began  to 
operate  on  the  position  and  relations  of  the  Swedish  church 
till  his  death,  although  they  sometimes  vacillated  from  side 
to  side.  He  was,  however,  for  a  long  time  unsettled  in  his 
determination,  and  undecided,  until  the  work  and  words  of 
one  man  gave  coherence,  clearness,  and  strength,  to  the 
thoughts  and  sympathies  of  his  heart.  That  work  was  the 
opinions  given  by  George  Cassander,  to  which  we  have 
before  referred.  What  was  there  said,  gave  birth  to  prin 
ciples  that  operated  for  a  time,  and  were  widely  spread,  but 


REFORMATION   IN    SWEDEN.  441 

soon  disappeared.  It  did  not  probably  reach  the  hands  of 
John  before  his  release  from  prison,  and  the  disturbances 
of  the  period  immediately  succeeding,  gave  him  little  leisure 
for  such  investigations.  His  acquaintance  with  this  book 
was  perhaps  brought  about  by  a  man  who  had  the  greatest 
influence  over  him.  This  man  was  the  secretary,  Petrus 
Fecht,  a  pupil  of  the  school  of  Melancthon  at  Wittenberg. 
Once  the  king  asked  him  what  he  thought  of  the  writings 
and  doctrines  of  the  old  church  fathers  and  the  new  authors. 
Fecht  answered,  that  he  found  greater  satisfaction  in  read 
ing  the  fathers.  From  that  hour  the  bond  was  tied  between 
the  two  men.  They  undertook  conjointly  to  investigate 
the  doctrines,  constitution,  and  ecclesiastical  usages  of  the 
primitive  church.  These  studies  kindled  a  contest  of  twenty 
years  within  the  Swedish  church. 

King  John  would  certainly  have  found  himself  less  dis 
posed  to  seek  a  medium  between  the  protestant  church's 
claim  for  the  freedom  of  private  judgment,  and  the  Roman 
church's  demand  of  blind  obedience,  had  not  the  claim  of 
the  latter  been  strongly  impressed  on  his  mind  by  his 
Roman  catholic  wife,  Catharine.  Not  being  at  first  zealous 
for- her  faith,  but  sliding  into  zeal  for  his  conversion  and  in 
struction,  though  a  truly  pious  and  godly  woman,  she  had 
a  legitimate  claim  to  his  attention,  from  the  proved  love 
she  had  shown  him  in  the  day  of  his  calamities.  Through 
her  the  Roman  priests  obtained  access  to  her  husband. 
On  her,  and  the  consequences  resulting  from  her  influence, 
the  Roman  church  built  the  hope  thus  awakened  to  a  new 
life,  of  restoring  king  John,  and  with  him  his  people,  to 
the  obedience  of  the  papacy. 

At  first,  by  degrees,  and  during  the  menacing  progress  of 
protestantism,  the  Roman  church  began  to  meditate  upon 
what  concerned  its  peace.  It  had  acted  under  an  illusion, 
which  is  the  doom  of  human  judgment  that  has  lost  its 
way.  It  had  let  loose,  or  not  essayed  to  restrain  the  newly 

19* 


442  HISTORY    OF    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

awakened  propensity  for  science  and  investigation,  without 
turning  it  to  the  service  of  the  church,  without  seeking  to 
bend  it  to  the  obedience  of  faith.  It  had  allowed  those 
calling  themselves  servants  of  God  to  pay  tribute  to  infidel 
ity,  and  audacious  vice  had  sat  uncovered  in  holy  places. 
It  had  struggled  to  subject  to  itself  princes  and  people,  but 
had  relied  for  support  on  the  weapons  of  violence.  It  found, 
therefore,  its  foes  and  vanquishers  in  the  spirit  of  inquiry, 
in  the  knowledge  brought  to  life  of  faith  and  good  works, 
in  a  living  piety,  in  a  temporal  power  professing  a  true  faith, 
all  of  which  were  turned  against  the  then  existing  faith  and 
confession  of  the  church.  A  reaction  against  the  church's 
corrupt  principles  of  action  had  commenced,  too,  within  its 
own  bosom,  and  in  Italy  itself;  and  it  is  remarkable  that, 
after  the  death  of  Marcellus  III.  and  of  Paul  IV.  in  the 
same  year,  1555,  men  of  great  morality  were  elevated  to 
the  papal  chair. 

But  it  may  be  said  of  a  hierarchy,  be  it  a  popish,  epis 
copal,  or  presbyterian  church,  that  its  inner  mission  can 
only  be  regenerated  by  its  peculiar  priesthood,  or  those  Avho 
fill  the  active  post  of  doctrinal  teachers.  Such  a  class 
was  to  be  found  in  the  Eoman  church,  in  its  monkish 
orders.  The  begging  monks  were  not  adapted  to  the 
change  of  times,  and  had  not  fulfilled  their  original  destina 
tion.  Upon  the  contrary,  the  newly -established  order  of 
Jesuits  became  the  preservers  of  this  church,  because  they 
understood  its  wants.  With  the  deepest  piety,  according 
to  the  forms  of  his  church,  Ignatius  Loyola  learned  to  read 
its  heart,  and  out  of  that  piety  grew  the  system  of  his 
order — by  the  science  of  faith  to  bend  science  to  the  obe 
dience  of  faith,  by  austerity  and  devotion  in  their  bringing 
up,  to  bend  the  rising  generation  into  a  reverence  for  the 
church  ;  by  the  strength  of  self-mortification  and  sacrifice,  the 
immeasurable  power  of  suffering,  to  bend  princes  and  people 
to  the  ecclesiastical  rule  and  sway.  The  obedience  of  the 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  443 

members  of  the  order  to  their  chief,  was  to  bend  the  world 
to  the  obedience  of  the  church. 

An  institution,  called  forth  by  the  deep  necessities  of  the 
time,  stands  nearly  full  fledged  in  the  hour  of  its  appearance. 
The  order  of  the  Jesuits  obtained  its  first  conlirmation  from 
the  pope,  in  1540,  to  the  number  of  sixty  members.  Three 
years  later,  this  limitation  was  removed.  Nearly  twelve 
years  after,  Ignatius,  himself  the  first  general  of  the  order, 
who  died  in  1555,  counted  in  his  order  more  than  a  thou 
sand  members,  in  a  hundred  colleges,  houses,  and  residences. 
This  number  was  soon  multiplied.  The  order  stood  as  an 
outpost  in  those  parts  of  Europe  which  had  not  yet  wholly 
thrown  off  the  yoke  of  the  papacy.  Behind  it  protestantism 
made  no  progress,  and  lost  a  part  of  what  it  had  won,  while 
the  waxing  courage  of  the  order  began  to  act  on  the  offen 
sive,  in  order  to  win  back  the  people  who  had  discarded  the 
obedience  of  the  papacy.  The  nature  of  its  piety,  the  deep 
inroad  which,  in  many  cases,  it  made  upon  the  sanctity  of 
Christian  morals,  and  even  its  success,  made  this  order  to  be 
regarded  in  relation  to  the  Christian  life,  as  was  the  council 
of  Trent  in  relation  to  the  church's  faith  and  constitution. 
Its  "  holy  craft"  substituted  for  violence,  soon  rendered  it 
an  object  of  the  most  lively  abhorrence  and  hatred  to  prot- 
estants. 

The  hottest  zealot  for  the  full  re-establishment  of  the  Ro 
man  church  in  Poland,  the  fatherland  of  the  Swedish  queen 
Catherine,  and  a  warm  friend  of  the  Jesuits,  was  Hosius, 
the  bishop  of  Kulm  and  Ermeland,  who,  in  1561,  was 
made  a  cardinal,  and  lived  eighteen  years  after  that  eleva 
tion.  He  was  a  pattern  of  Jesuitical  piety,  was  put  in 
the  high  posts  of  the  church,  and  is  much  commended  for 
good  works  and  learning.  In  1571  he  composed,  at  the 
request  of  the  Polish  bishops,  a  confession  of  faith,  in  oppo 
sition  to  that  of  Augsburg,  and  endeavored,  by  letters  and 
representations,  to  harden  the  lenient  heart  of  king  Sigis- 


444  HISTORY  OF  THE  ECCLESIASTICAL 

mund,  against  any  toleration  of  heretics.  He  was  in  hopeT 
on  occasion  of  the  theological  disputes  in  the  Lutheran 
church,  to  win  over  the  duke  of  Saxony  and  his  land,  for 
which  purpose  he  sent  the  Jesuits  there,  and  exhorted  duke 
Alberi  of  Borne  to  assist  him,  which  that  prince,  however, 
declined  to  do.  When,  after  the  death  of  Sigismund  Augus 
tus,  in  1572,  the  Polish  estates  established  freedom  of  faith 
for  the  protestants,  the  pax  dissidentium,  he  used  all  his 
efforts  to  prevent  the  newly-elected  king,  Henry  of  Anjou, 
from  acquiescing  in  this  arrangement,  and  when  that  mon 
arch  had  confirmed  it,  to  induce  him  to  break  his  oath  as 
by  no  means  binding.  This  is  an  exemplification  of  the 
moral  worth  of  Ilosius.  The  Lutherans,  in  his  vieAV,  could 
not  be  considered  as  Christians ;  their  priests  were,  in  his 
opinion,  servants  of  Satan. 

It  does  not  appear  that,  immediately  after  his  marriage, 
~any  connection  with  Home  was  kept  up  by  king  John's  wife. 
But,  from  the  commencement  of  the  year  1540,  a  stir  began 
to  be  noticed  both  for  and  against  the  Roman  church.  The 
training  of  the  young  successor  to  the  throne  was  first 
intrusted  to  a  Roman  catholic  teacher,  not  on  the  ground 
of  any  resolution  to  educate  him  in  this  faith,  but  partly  to 
please  the  mother,  and  partly  in  conformity  with  John's 
idea  that  lie  should  be  devoted  to  neither  church  until  he 
could  make  his  own  choice  between  them.  This  view 
resulted,  not  only  from  John's  persuasion  that  there  was  a 
middle  path,  but  also  from  the  reflection  that  young  Sigis 
mund  must  not  be  excluded  from  the  future  possession  of 
either  of  the  kingly  crowns,  that  of  Sweden  by  right  of  his 
father,  or  that  of  Poland  by  right  of  his  mother's  brother 
or  mother's  family.  This  hope  was  centred  in  this  son 
of  John's  imprisonment.  The  popish  teacher,  Nicholas 
Mylonius,  was,  however,  in  1572  or  1573,  removed  from 
this  trust,  because  the  estates  of  Sweden  were  dissatisfied 
that  the  education  of  the  crown  prince  should  be  committed 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  445 

to  such  a  man.  It  was  at  this  period  that  the  controversial 
writings  of  Herbst  roused  attention  to  the  enterprize  of  the 
papists  and  the  care  of  the  Jesuits,  stretching  even  to  tight 
little  Sweden. 

The  reaction  which  awakened  the  Roman  church  to 
renewed  activity,  extended  even  to  Sweden.  The  reanima- 
tion  had,  by  degrees,  affected  all  the  adherents  of  this  church  ; 
and  a  more  zealous  interest  in  what  relates  to  the  church 
began  in  our  own  land  to  be  felt.  We  have  before  noticed 
a  change  in  the  mind  of  queen  Catherine,  proceeding  either 
from  the  influence  of  the  spirit  of  the  times  in  general,  or 
from  her  increasing  intimacy  with  men  of  more  decided 
views.  It  appears  probable,  but  we  cannot  determine  to 
what  degree,  that  the  above-named  Mylonius  had  a  share 
in  the  change.  We  have  more  certainty  of  the  influence 
over  her  exerted  by  a  priest,  whose  name  is  not  known, 
that  came  from  Home,  and  seems  to  have  accurately  inquired 
into  the  state  of  the  queen's  mind,  and  to  have  excited  her 
zeal  for  the  church.  Through  him  or  some  other,  attention 
had  been  attracted  at  Koine  to  the  means  of  reknitting  the 
connection  with  Sweden,  of  which  the  queen  was  to  be  the 
link  ;  and  cardinal  Hosius  made  use  of  his  intimate  relation 
ship  with  the  royal  house  of  Jagellon  to  put  himself 
into  immediate  communication  with  her.  His  first  letter  to 
queen  Catherine,  written  in  May  or  the  beginning  of  June, 
1572,  is  the  commencement  of  a  correspondence  carried  on 
for  some  years.  It  commends  her  steadfastness  in  faith,  and 
unity  with  the  church,  her  zeal  for  her  husband's  salvation, 
in  requesting  that  some  Jesuits  might  be  sent  to  Sweden,  by 
whose  aid  she  might  restore  to  the  right  path  those  who  had 
been  led  astray  by  the  servants  of  Satan.  The  whole  city — 
Hosius  was  then  at  Rome — was  talking  about  it.  The  car 
dinal  could  not  forbear  expressing  to  her  his  pleasure  and 
congratulations  at  the  report  that  her  husband  too  was 
not  far  from  the  kingdom  of  God.  He  supplicates  God's 


446  HISTORY    OP    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

favor  on  her  efforts  to  restore  her  husband  and  people  from 
damnation,  offers  his  assistance,  and  assures  her  of  the  pope's 
benediction.* 

Doubtless  the  cardinal  gives  the  queen's  wishes  and  pur 
poses  a  stronger  import  than  they  really  deserved.  We 
cannot  regard  this  desire  of  having  Jesuits  sent  hither,  other 
wise  than  as  a  loose  expression  heard  in  Sweden  from 
those  who  supposed  that  such  must  be  the  wish  of  the  queen 
— and  so  it  was  made  a  reality.  We  find  no  means  adopted  ; 
and  when  at  last  Jesuits  came  here,  there  is  no  hint  of  their 
having  been  earlier  called. 

The  queen,  brought  up  in  a  Polish  family,  in  more  liberal 
views  than  those  now  current,  must,  if  by  her  king  John  and 
his  people  were  to  be  won,  be  herself  first  reclaimed  to  that 
unity  with  the  lloman  church,  for  which  the  cardinal  had 
already  commended  her.  Rome  could  no  longer  be  satis 
fied  with  an  imperfect  connection.  Catherine,  who  was 
commonly  regarded  as  possessing  so  much  power  over  her 
husband,  had  been  induced  by  him  to  partake  of  the  Lord's 
Supper  in  both  kinds,  without  a  papal  dispensation,  and  her 
catholic  chaplain  had  in  this  manner  administered  it  to  her. 
A  priest,  that  had  lately  come  hither,  informed  the  pope  and 
Hosios  of  this,  and  the  consequence  was  a  prohibition  to 
the  queen  so  to  receive,  and  to  the  priests  so  to  administer 
the  Lord's  Supper.  This  awakened  dissatisfaction.  The 
queen  now  addressed  the  cardinal  in  a  letter,  dated  Nov. 
12,  1572,  with  a  request  that  he  would  obtain  for  her  the 
pope's  pardon,  and  also  his  permission  to  continue  receiving 
the  cucharist  in  both  kinds.  King  John  ordered  his  am 
bassador  in  Poland,  A.  Lorich,  to  endeavor,  through  the 
papal  legate  in  that  country,  to  gain  this  permission.  The 
king  expressed  himself  in  strong  terms  against  Koine, 
and  accuses  Hosius  of  having  prevented  the  grant  of  the 

*  Gregory  XIII.,  the  same  who  celebrated  with  a  Te  Deumihe  horrid  mur 
der  of  the  Huguenots,  and  had  a  medal  struck  in  honor  of  the  event. 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  447 

queen's  request.  The  refusal  had  afflicted  the  sick  queen, 
who  could  not  be  induced  to  take  the  Lord's  Supper  from 
Swedish  priests,  or  be  disobedient  to  the  pope,  but  only 
wished,  by  participating  in  both  kinds,  to  win  the  favor  of 
her  subjects.  The  pope  had  often  absolved  from  this  com 
mand,  and  from  another  which  is  against  God  and  nature. 

Hosius  replied  to  the  queen's  letter,  in  March,  1573,  and 
expresses  a  wish  to  do  her  service,  but  represents  how  wrong 
she  had  acted,  since  it  was  better  to  obey  God  than  men. 
The  priest  who  permitted  her  to  take  wine  in  the  sacrament 
had  been  in  great  error,  when  he  said  that  Christ  himself  so 
instituted  it.  He  had  indeed  given  the  apostles  both  bread 
and  wine,  but  it  did  not  follow  that  laymen  had  the  same 
right.  If  the  king  still  required  this  mode  of  reception 
from  her,  she  was  to  answer  in  words  that  the  cardinal  puts 
into  her  mouth,  that  she  would  willingly  comply  with  the 
king's  wish,  if  he  would  grant  a  little  prayer  of  hers,  to 
restore  his  people  to  the  obedience  of  the  Roman  see, 
himself  to  take  his  departure,  and  humbly  beg  pardon  for 
the  fifty  years'  separation  between  Sweden  and  Rome.  The 
cardinal  assured  her  that  the  use  of  the  cup  would  readily 
be  allowed,  if  thereby  Sweden's  kingdom  could  be  won. 

The  withheld  dispensation  was  used  as  a  spur  to  the 
queen's  zeal  for  conversion.  But  the  royal  house  of  Sweden 
had  also  for  its  negotiations  with  Rome  a  worldly  motive. 
Queen  Catherine  had,  in  conjunction  with  her  sister,  after 
the  death  of  their  mother,  Bona  Sforza,  who  was  buried  at 
Naples,  a  considerable  inheritance,  the  principality  of  Bar, 
with  some  ready  money.  As  the  Spanish  government  raised 
difficulties  in  giving  it  up,  the  pope's  intervention  was  re 
quested.  Even  this  was  promised,  if  any  inclination  was 
manifested  on  the  part  of  Sweden  to  a  reconciliation  with 
Rome.  Plosius  became  adviser  to  the  conscience  of  the 
queen,  and  at  this  time  held  a  frequent  correspondence  with 
her  by  letters.  She  was  urged  to  endeavor  to  gain  her 


448  HISTORY    OF    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

husband  to  the  papal  church.  "  It  was,"  says  the  cardinal, 
"  a  good  sign  that  he  allowed  his  wife  to  negotiate  at  Rome 
respecting  the  use  of  the  cup  in  the  Lord's  Supper." 
'•'Gregory  VIT.,"  he  proceeds,  "seems  to  have  been  the 
pope  through  whom  Sweden  first  received  the  gospel,  that 
from  and  with  him  the  present  Gregory  XIII.  was  the 
seventh,  a  number  peculiar  to  the  Holy  Ghost,  whose  gifts 
also  are  seven."  He  promises  the  intercessions  the  queen 
had  requested  of  him,  and  sends  in  his  letter,  prayers  to 
Christ  and  the  saints  of  Sweden  for  its  conversion. 

This  letter,  from  which  we  have  made  these  extracts, 
appears  to  have  been  written  in  June,  1573.  At  the  same 
time  the  cardinal  attempts  to  bring  himself  in  connection 
with  king  John,  who  had  hitherto  avoided  all  open 
communication  with  the  men  of  the  Roman  church.  He 
wrote  him  a  letter,  but  uncertain  how  it  would  be  received, 
sent  it  to  the  queen,  whom  he  left  to  decide  whether  its 
delivery  would  be  prudent  or  not.  It  was  produced,  and 
the  cardinal  was  happy  enough  to  receive  an  answer, 
though  not  in  accordance  with  his  wishes.  The  king  appears 
to  have  merely  justified  himself  in  regard  to  the  cardinal's 
allusion  to  the  allowing  the  queen  the  religious  liberty 
guaranteed  at  her  marriage.  The  queen  having  in  one  of 
her  letters  spoken  of  the  threat  of  the  Swedish  people,  that 
they  would  not  endure  her  popish  priests,  as  the  reason  for 
her  taking  the  cup  of  the  Lord's  Supper,  the  cardinal 
replies  to  the  king,  that  he  could  not  believe  the  king  would 
allow  his  sceptre  to  be  wrenched  from  him  by  his  subjects. 
"Is  this,  in  God's  name,  the  gospel,  that  subjects  shall  not 
submit  to  their  princes,  but  princes  must  submit  to  their 
subjects?"  But  when  king  John  alludes  in  his  letter  to  the 
matter  of  the  inheritance,  as  desirous  of  using  the  assistance 
of  the  Roman  court,  the  cardinal  gives  him  to  understand 
that  a  greater  disposition  for  a  church  communion  with 
Rome  would  be  attended  with  a  more  lively  participation 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  449 

in  that  cause.  To  the  Roman  chair,  from  the  times  of  the 
apostles,  all  disputes  had  been  referred,  as  the  king  might 
learn  from  Hosius's  confession  of  faith,  of  which  a  copy 
accompanied  the  letter.  The  divisions  in  Germany  ought 
also  to  admonish  him  that  the  act  which  was  now  most 
concerning  to  a  king  was  the  reclaiming  of  his  people  to 
the  unity  of  the  church.  » 

To  the  crown  prince,  Sigismund,  now  eight  years  old,  the 
cardinal  at  the  same  time  wrote  a  letter ,x  in  which  he  ex 
presses  the  hope,  that  Sigismund,  through  his  mother's  piety, 
would  be  preserved  from  the  confusion  of  tongues  which 
had  already  arisen  in  the  tower  of  Babel  begun  to  be  built 
in  Saxony.  That  he  might  understand  what  the  catholic 
church  is,  books  are  sent  him,  out  of  which  his  teacher, 
whom  Ilosins  supposes  to  be  a  catholic,  might  read  for  his 
struction.  Other  small  presents  and  prayer  books  were 
sent  him  and  his  sister  Ann,  then  a  child  of  six  years  of 
age. 

In  this  correspondence  from  Rome  the  queen  was  not 
forgotten,  but  received  letters  from  both  the  pope  and 
Hosius.  She  had,  in  a  letter  to  the  former,  thanked  him 
for  the  receipt  of  absolution  for  her  fault  in  taking  the  cup 
in  the  Lord's  Supper,  assured  him  she  had  not  harbored  and 
did  not  harbor  the  design  of  being  disobedient  to  the  church, 
expressed  her  wish  for  her  husband's  and  his  people's  return 
to  the  bosom  of  the  church,  and  begged  permission  to  con 
tinue  the  use  of  the  cup.  Gregory  declares,  in  his  answer, 
his  delight  with  her  church  principles,  promises,  in  the 
question  of  using  the  cup,  to  determine  what  God  directed 
him  as  consistent  with  his  own  honor  and  the  church's  wel 
fare,  sends  her  t\vo  hundred  guilders  for  the  nuns  of  Wad- 
sten,  whom  she  had  recommended  to  him,  with  some  Agnus 
Deis  for  herself  and  children,  and  refers  her,  in  conclusion, 
to  a  letter  she  would  receive  from  Hosius. 

This  letter  of  the  cardinal  was,  on    the  contrary,  less 


450  HISTORY    OP   THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

gracious.  He  had  expected,  what  a  letter  from  Herbst 
allowed  him  to  hope,  that  the  queen  would  have  already 
refrained  from  the  use  of  the  cup  in  the  Lord's  Supper. 
As  long  as  this  was  not  the  case,  she  must  not  hope  for  per 
mission  to  be  allowed  its  use.  He  had  already  written  to 
her,  that  the  condition  of  the  permission  would  be  the 
queen's  endeavor  "  that  some  sign  should  appear  in  the 
kingdom  of  a  return  to  the  church,  and  a  reestablishmcnt 
of  the  sacrifice  of  the  mass  with  its  ceremonies."  With 
respect  to  the  threat  of  the  Swedes  not  to  endure  Eomish 
priests  and  the  mass,  the  cardinal  repeats  what  he  expresses 
in  the  letter  to  the  king. 

It  was  now  considered  at  Home  that  a  step  further  might 
be  taken.  The  letter  of  Hosius  to  the  queen  ends  with  the 
notice  that  a  Jesuit  priest,  Stanislaus  Warsewitz,  from 
Poland,  would  soon  arrive  in  Sweden,  and  that  the  pope 
desired  six  noble  youths  to  be  sent  to  Rome  to  be  trained 
in  Christian  piety. 

The  further  progress  of  the  matter  will  be  related  after 
we  have  described  the  measures  for  a  change  in  the  church, 
which  after  1573  were  adopted. 

Meanwhile  the  intercourse  which  was  now  opened  be 
tween  Sweden  and  Rome,  had  awakened  anxiety  over 
Europe,  as  to  king  John's  purpose  of  returning  to  the 
obedience  of  the  Roman  church,  provided  the  pope  would 
permit  laymen  to  partake  the  Lord's  Supper  in  both  kinds, 
and  grant  marriage  to  the  clergy.  There  was,  however,  a 
general  conviction  that  the  transactions  of  the  year  1573, 
chiefly  regarded  the  pope's  recommendation  for  obtaining  the 
queen's  maternal  inheritance  at  Naples,  and  that  after  the 
recent  vacancy  of  the  Polish  throne,  in  1574,  John  desired 
to  win  the  pope's  co-operation  in  the  suit  for  the  crown  of 
Poland. 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  451 


CHAPTER    III. 

THE  CHURCH  COUNCIL  AT  STOCKHOLM  IN  1574— E  LE  CTION  OF  AN 
ARCHBISHOP— CHURCH  ORDINANCE  OP  1575— CONSECRATION  OF 
BISHOPS  IN  1575. 

MORE  than  seven  months  went  by  after  the  death  of 
archbishop  Laurcntius  Pctri,  before  his  successor  was  named. 
This  space  of  time  was  devoted  by  king  John  and  his  friend 
Fccht  to  the  studies  which  might  give  their  judgment  and 
measures  respecting  the  church  both  character  and  stability. 
A  scheme  was  concerted  for  sundry  changes  and  additions 
to  the  church  ordinance  of  Laurcntius  Petri,  and  the  king 
desired,  before  the  election  of  an  archbishop,  to  assemble  the 
bishops  and  priests  in  order  to  ask  their  confirmation  of  this 
scheme,  possibly,  also,  to  ascertain  beforehand  how  far  they 
might  be  disposed  to  any  further  alterations.  Before  the 
meeting  of  the  council,  negotiations  were  carried  on  with 
the  newly-elected  bishop  of  AYesteras,  Erasmus  Nicolai ;  and 
the  scheme  was  previously  communicated  to  him  through 
Fccht,  with  the  king's  injunction  that  he  should  endeavor 
to  gain  for  it  the  consent  of  the  clergy  of  his  diocese. 

It  is  said  that  the  delay  in  filling  the  archiepiscopal  chair 
was  occasioned  by  another  plan  of  king  John,  to  elevate  to 
that  post  his  cousin-german,  John  of  Hoya,  bishop  of 
Munster  in  Westphalia,  count  Per  Brahc's  half-brother. 
It  may  be  that  king  John  spoke  of  it  without  reflection,  and 
that  while  a  general  attention  was  drawn  to  the  popish 
scheme,  suspicions  were  raised  and  conjectures  formed  as  to 


452  HISTORY    OF    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

such  a  step  and  its  consequences.  It  is  not  probable,  how 
ever,  that  it  was  seriously  contemplated,  as  the  man  belonged 
to  the  Roman  church.  Plowever  this  may  be,  the  whole 
matter  came  to  nothing  by  the  death  of  the  bishop,  which 
occurred  at  this  time. 

The  ecclesiastical  council,  with  which  commence,  within 
the  Swedish  church,  the  movements  called  liturgic,  was 
opened  on  June  6,  1574,  at  Stockholm,  the  day  and  city 
appointed  also  for  the  meeting  of  the  diet.  The  bishops 
were  summoned,  and  were  to  bring  with  them  certain  mem 
bers  of  their  chapters,  and  principal  priests  of  each  district. 
There  arc  one  hundred  and  four  names  of  the  clergy  re 
corded  as  present,  in  which  number,  the  representatives  of 
the  see  of  Linkoping  are  not  counted. 

The  king  sometimes  appeared  in  person  at  the  council, 
sometimes  took  part  in  it  through  the  agency  of  Fecht.  He 
had  found  it  necessary  to  clear  himself  from  the  suspicion  of 
being  attached  to  the  Roman  church.  It  was,  he  said,  "  a 
Jewish  lie."  For  his  part  he  was  desirous  of  maintaining, 
protecting,  and  propagating  the  doctrines  of  the  old  church. 
It  was  well  known,  how  many  heresies  were  spread  over  all 
the  countries  of  Europe,  what  disunion  and  disorders  pre 
vailed  even  among  the  theologians  of  the  Augsburg  con 
fession,  of  whom  those  of  Wittenberg  and  Leipsig  wished  to 
adapt  themselves  to  the  primitive  church  of  the  fathers, 
which  the  others  presumptuously  assailed.  Yes,  doubtful 
of  their  own  doctrine,  as  not  uninterruptedly  derived  from 
the  apostles,  they  had,  this  very  year,  sent  ambassadors  to 
Constantinople  to  seek  a  union  of  protestants  with  the 
Greek  church.  Amid  such  doctrinal  discords,  it  would  be 
well  to  close  with  the  apostolic  and  Christian  verity  of  t/ie 
primitive  church,  evidenced  alike  by  holy  Scripture  and  the 
writings  of  the  holy  fathers  of  the  church.  There  had  been 
in  many  respects  a  deviation  from  those  old  paths,  especially 
in  the  order  of  divine  service,  and  a  beginning  ought  to  be 


IN    SWEftfeN.  453 

made  by  a  return  in  that  office  of  the  mass  to  the  primitive 
purity. 

The  ten  points  which  were  proposed  to  the  clergy  by 
Fecht,  related  either  to  the  proper  address  of  the  priests 
in  the  time  of  divine  service,  and  the  administration  of  the 
Lord's  Supper,  or  to  some  church  usages.  They  had  for 
their  object  the  maintenance  of  the  sanctity  of  worship  and 
the  sacrament,  for  which  king  John,  as  did  the  old  Lauren- 
tius  Petri  before  him,  showed  himself  solicitous.  Both  of 
them  referred  in  the  same  terms  to  the  Calvinistic  and 
puritan  mischief  which  had  prevailed  in  the  times  just  past. 

The  first  point  having  confirmed  the  order  of  the  mass 
which  had  been  settled  in  the  year  1571,  the  priests  were 
exhorted  to  prepare  themselves  carefully  for  divine  service. 
They  often  made  no  preparation  for  their  sermons  before 
the  hour  of  delivery.  They  ought  to  call  to  mind  the  holi 
ness  of  the  cause  in  which  they  were  engaged,  especially 
the  mass.  During  singing,  while  they  stood  before  the 
altar,  they  ought  both  for  themselves  and  the  congregation 
to  offer  up  holy  and  Christian  prayers,  especially  those  the 
fathers  and  teachers  of  the  church  had  used,  which  had 
been  composed  witn  great  piety.  The  people  should  be 
admonished  to  approach  with  the  greatest  reverence  the 
Supper  of  the  Lord.  There  should  then  be  the  same  mind, 
thoughts  and  gestures,  as  in  prayer  to  God.  A  preparation 
should  be  made,  by  both  those  who  administered  and  those 
who  partook  of  the  sacrament,  with  fasting,  mortification, 
and  frequent  prayers.  The  priest  who  was  drunk  the  after 
noon  before  he  administered  the  Lord's  Supper  was  to  be 
degraded.  At  the  mass  they  ought  to  demean  themselves 
with  outward  reverence,  and  respect  the  service  cloths,  and 
not,  as  some  were  wont  to  do,  lay  their  old  hats  or  dirty 
gloves  upon  the  altar.  If  the  offered  bread  and  wine  at  the 
time  of  the  eucharist  was  not  enough,  the  priest  was  to 
consecrate  more.  He  should  see  that  none  remained,  but 


454  HISTORY   OF  THE   ECCLESIASTICAL 

if  any  of  the  wine  remained,  he  was  to  drink  it  at  the  altar^ 
and  afterward  rinse  the  cup  with  unconsecrated  wine,  which 
he  was  also  to  drink.  The  "  lauds,"  which  the  old  church 
was  wont  to  sing  as  an  introduction  to  the  mass,  were  again 
to  be  used.  The  priests  should  in  their  lives  and  vocation 
conduct  themselves  with  propriety.  The  layman  who 
seduced  a  priest  into  drunkenness,  or  otherwise  put  a  con 
straint  upon  the  liberty  his  office  requires,  was  himself  to  be 
subjected  to  punishment. 

These  proposed  points,  which  were  thought  to  appertain 
to  a  bishop  to  be  presented  to  a  convocation  of  his  clergy 
rather  than  to  a  king  in  the  presence  of  the  clergy  of  the 
kingdom,  produced  sundry  objections,  when  the  clergy  came 
to  consider  them.  Of  these  objections,  in  the  answer  and 
criticism  afterward  given  by  the  king,  wlio  thus  concluded  the 
matter,  one  only,  regarding  a  change  in  the  formula  of 
prayer,  was  respected ;  the  rest  were  disapproved.  The 
clergy  had  objected  to  a  repetition  of  the  words  of  consecra 
tion,  when  fresh  bread  and  wine  were  placed  upon  the  altar, 
because  it  seemed  to  sanction  the  popish  doctrine  of  tran- 
substantiation.  The  direction  was  retained,  but  it  was 
added,  that  it  was  not  meant  that  on  these  words  depended 
the  real  presence  of  the  body  and  blood  of  Christ.  In 
respect  to  the  consumption  at  the  altar  by  the  priest  of  the 
bread  and  wine  that  were  left,  the  clergy  declared  that  they 
would  treat  them  reverentially,  but  that  they  by  no  means 
considered  that  there  was  in  what  was  left  any  such  presence 
of  Christ  as  in  the  participation  of  the  sacrament. 

The  king  gave  his  judgment  respecting  the  objections  of 
the  clergy,  but  after  they  were  made  known,  he  called  the 
bishops  to  the  castle,  and  made  them  a  speech,  which  is  an 
exposition  of  his  whole  course.  They  must  not  be  surprised 
that  he  meddled  with  theological  matters.  It  resulted  from 
his  zeal  for  the  house  of  God.  He  had  seen  how  carelessly 
the  sacrament  was  treated.  They  must  not  suppose  him  un- 


REFORMATION   IN    SWEDEN.  455 

skilled  in  these  subjects.  During  his  imprisonment  he  had 
thoroughly  perused  many  works  of  the  best  fathers  of  the 
church.  Pie  wished  both  to  guard  the  clergy  against  the 
intricate  meanings  of  the  new  theologians,  and  to  arm  them 
against  the  papists.  He  inveighed  against  the  theologians 
of  AVittenberg  and  Kostock.  Among  the  German  theolo 
gians  were  as  diverse  opinions  as  there  were  members  in 
their  body.  No  two  agreed  together.  Their  writings, 
therefore,  were  to  be  cautiously  used,  or  not  be  read  at  all 
by  the  Swedish  priests,  who  should  rather  devote  themselves 
to  the  church  fathers,  whose  works  contained  on  one  page 
more  matter  than  the  thickest  books  of  the  new  theologians. 
He  would,  therefore,  no  longer  permit  Swedes  to  study  in 
Germany,  but  would  take  care  that  there  should  be  sufficient 
instruction  for  them  in  the  academy  of  Upsala. 

After  the  king  had  subscribed  the  decree  of  the  council, 
the  election  of  an  archbishop  was  at  last  taken  in  hand.  The 
bishops,  priests,  and  teachers  of  schools,  gave  their  votes. 
The  greater  number  of  these  votes  were  divided  between 
bishop  Marten  of  Linkoping,  and  the  professor  at  Upsala, 
Laurentius  Petri.  The  former  had  a  majority,  as  a  man 
of  stricter  protcstant  principles,  bnt  the  king's  vote  gave 
Laurentius  the  office. 

Laurentius  Petri  thus  took,  after  his  namesake  and  father- 
in-law,  the  foremost  place  in  the  Swedish  church.  His 
elevation  was  the  result,  not  of  a  treacherous  surrender  of 
the  claims  of  duty,  not  merely  of  the  royal  favor,  or  his 
connection  with  the  family  of  his  predecessor,  but  also  from 
his  known  talents  for  business.  In  learning  he  surpassed 
"hiost,  and  was  inferior  to  none  of  his  countrymen  of  that 
time.  The  man  who,  in  1566,  was  before  all  others  chosen 
for  the  first  chair  in  the  newly-established  university  of 
Upsala,  and  soon  became  its  chief  pilot,  could  not  want 
respect.  But  when  he  took  the  archiepiscopal  chair,  the 
post  was  for  its  occupant  no  less  perilous  if  not  more  so 


456  HISTOltY    OF    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

than  when  the  old  Laurentius  Fetri  entered  on  the  path, 
in  which,  with  honor  and  success,  he  cheerfully  passed 
through  so  many  rough  and  thorny  places. 

King  John's  self-confidence  in  his  own  theological  acumen, 
and  his  lofty  ideas  of  the  width  and  weight  of  his  kingly 
episcopal  rights,  was  for  the  leader  of  the  church  no  less 
dangerous  than  the  terrible  power  of  his  father  had  proved. 
The  Roman  church  also,  after  it  began  through  the  order 
of  Jesuits  to  comprehend  its  own  relations  to  the  times,  had 
opened  a  more  insidious  mode  of  controversy  than  its  former 
reliance  upon  measures  of  violence.  The  new  archbishop 
was  not  deceived.  If  he  yielded  to  the  king's  plans,  it  was 
not  from  courtly  pliancy,  but  because  he  would  give  the 
weight  of  the  royal  approbation  to  those  plans  and  views, 
in  many  of  which  from  perfect  conviction,  he  coincided  with 
the  king.  A  conviction  which  is  not  perfect  but  vacillates, 
can  find  no  limits  to  compliance,  when  tried  by  a  demand 
for  concessions.  Laurentius  Petri  was  led  farther  than  he 
expected  or  wished. 

It  must  be  supposed,  either  that  king  John  and  his  friend 
Fecht,  had  not  yet,  in  the  middle  of  the  year  1574,  during 
their  investigations,  clearly  determined  upon  their  measures, 
or  that  their  design  of  bringing  the  Swedish  church  into 
those  measures  met  with  so  much  opposition,  so  many  ob 
jections,  that  they  were  compelled  to  delay  for  some  time 
carrying  them  into  execution.  Otherwise  it  is  unaccounta 
ble  why  those  changes  were  not  at  once  brought  forward, 
which,  four  months  later,  were  proposed  and  adopted.  Al 
though  to  the  changes  which  took  place  in  1574,  the  clergy 
gave,  not  without  great  caution,  their  consent,  there  is  no 
evidence  that  the  king  and  Fecht  deferred  them  longer  than 
they  could.  On  the  contrary,  the  proceedings  of  the  council 
of  June,  1574,  must  have  contributed  to  enlighten  these 
men  of  a  middle  way,  as  to  the  path  they  were  to  pursue, 
and  \ve  cannot  be  mistaken  in  regarding  an  occurrence  that 


^REFORMATION   IN    SWEDEN.  457 

happened  during  this  summer,  a  few  weeks  after  the  close 
of  the  council,  and  while  the  impression  of  its  transactions 
was  still  fresh,  as  having  greatly  contributed  to  complete  the 
king's  and  Fecht' s  consciousness  of  their  position  as  theolo 
gians  and  church  reformers. 

On  the  16th  of  July,  there  came  to  Stockholm,  heralded 
by  a  letter  from  Hosius  to  queen  -Catherine,  Stanislaus 
Warsewitz,  the  first  Jesuit  known  to  have  reached  the  shores 
of  Sweden.  During  the  time  he  stayed  here,  which  did 
not  exceed  a  month,  he  had  four  'Conferences  with  the 
king,  and  many  with  Fecht  on  faith  and  the  church.  King 
John,  of  whom  Warsewitz  remarks,  that  he  was  ingenuous 
and  eloquent,  more  willing  to  teach  than  be  taught,  could 
not  be  won  from  the  principles  he  had  already  embraced. 
Every  one,  however,  who  has  experienced  how,  in  the 
struggle  of  the  human  spirit  from  its  dim  depths  to  extract 
a  firm  and  clear  conviction,  each  word,  especially  of  objec 
tion  and  •contradiction,  is  a  spark  that  fires  and  enlightens, 
may  understand  what  influence,  even  in  those  few  confer 
ences,  Warsewitz's  manner,  piety,  culture,  and  ductility, 
must  have  had  on  the  king,  seeking  for  truth,  and  not  un- 
allied  to  the  Jesuit  in  his  views.  If  we  may  credit  Warse 
witz's  own  report,  his  influence  was  still  greater  with  Fecht, 
whose  star  of  life  his  own  resembled.  Like  Fecht,  he  had 
been  a  pupil  of  Mclancthon  at  Wittenberg,  and  in  Poland 
held  the  same  relation  to  king  Sigismund  II.  as  Fecht  now 
held  to  John  III.,  the  brother-in-law  of  that  king.  Each 
was  secretary  to  the  prince  he  served. 

To  Warsewitz,  John  had  declared,  that,  above  all,  he  de 
signed  to  re-establish  the  primitive  church  usages  ;  and  they 
consulted  together  upon  ceremonies  valid  and  invalid,  with 
regard  to  which,  the  kmg  held  fast  to  the  stand-point  of  the 
testimony  of  the  church  fathers.  Warsewitz  is  fond  of  rep 
resenting  this  determination  of  re-establishing  the  usages  of 
the  primitive  church,  as  a  fruit  of  his  conference  with  the 

20 


458  HISTORY    OF    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

king.  That  this  determination  was  not  now  first  formed  in 
John's  mind,  appears  from  the  foregoing  transactions,  espe 
cially  from  the  council  of  1574  ;  but  that  it  now  presented 
itself  to  him  in  all  its  importance,  is  clear  from  the  measures 
which  were  taken  in  the  course  of  two  years  from  this  time, 
and  through  which  John's  reformation  nearly  attained  the 
limits  by  which  he  firmly  abided  during  the  rest  of  his  life. 
Warsewitz  left  Sweden  in  the  middle  of  the  month  of 
August,  and  soon  after,  the  plan  was  developed  into  a  church 
ordinantia,  adopted  the  following  spring.  The  new  arch 
bishop,  who  did  not  yet  hold  a  full  commission  from  the 
king,  was  summoned  to  Stockholm,  in  December,  and  here 
were  presented  for  his  approval  seventeen  articles,  which  are 
manifestly  a  programme  of  the  ordinantia,  such  as  it  was 
designed  to  be.  Assurance  might  thus  be  had  of  his  assent 
to  the  changes  to  be  proposed  for  general  acceptance. 

-  That  it  was  in  contemplation  to  go  further  than  had  yet 
been  attempted,  will  soon  be  made  manifest.  After  the 
archbishop  had  approved  these  articles,  he  was  confirmed  in 
his  office,  and  he  pledged  himself  to  maintain  the  pure  doc 
trine  of  the  church,  according  to  the  writings  of  the  apostles 
and  prophets,  and  not  allow  any  opinions  that  conflicted 
with  "  the  unanimous  faith  of  the  true,  universal  (catholic) 
church,"  to  be  spread  in  the  kingdom.  Many  false  doctrines 
had  sprung  up,  or  been  revived,  such  as  the  physical  presence 
everywhere  of  the  body  and  blood  of  Christ,  and  the  prof 
anation  of  the  Virgin  Mary,  instead  of  the  former  extrava 
gant  reverence  and  adoration  of  her,  contrary  to  God's 
word.  The  reason  was,  that  men  contemned  or  neglected 
the  witness  which  the  primitive  church  bore  to  truth. 

The  archbishop,  therefore,  promised  to  maintain  and  de 
fend  the  right  doctrine,  according  to  the  Nicene,  Apostles', 
and  Athanasian  creeds,  and  the  witness  of  pious  antiquity, 
and  to  engage  as  well  the  professors  of  Upsala,  especially 
those  of  theology,  as  the  priests  of  the  diocese,  to  read  "  the 


REFORMATION   IN   SAVEDEN.  459 

writings  of  the  purer  church."  He  bound  himself  to  pay 
attention  to  the  lectures  delivered  in  academies,  and  for  the 
theological,  to  furnish  materials  from  the  writings  of  the 
church  fathers.  Over  the  doctrine  and  lives  of  priests  he 
would  keep  a  watchful  eye,  and  see  that  they  were  regard 
ful  of  their  studies,  pious  exercises,  fasts,  sobriety,  chastity, 
and  prayer,  and  observed  the  church's  ceremonies  and  holy 
days.  His  jurisdiction  he  would  not  abuse,  and  would,  in 
other  respects,  comport  himself  in  conformity  with  the  law 
which  was  or  should  be  adopted,  and  not  introduce  anything 
that  was  not  sanctioned  by  a  church  council,  and  the  king. 

Soon  after  the  archbishop  had  given  this  pledge,  the 
archbishop,  the  bishops  of  Linkoping,  Skara,  Strangness, 
and  Westeras,  with  the  priests  of  Stockholm,  the  provosts 
Sveno  Benedicti,  of  Skara,  and  Salomo  Birgeri,  of  Westeras, 
the  pastor  of  Strangness,  Keinhold  JRagvaldi,  and  the  school 
master  of  Skara,  Qlaus  Laurentire,  were,  on  Feb.  1,  1575, 
assembled  in  Stockholm  by  the  king's  summons.  Possibly, 
there  were  more  present,  though  their  names  are  not  given. 
Before  these,  when  assembled,  were  now  laid  the  proposed 
changes  or  additions  to  the  church  ordinance  of  1571,  in 
conformity  to  the  articles  accepted  by  the  archbishop  elect. 
The  proceedings  were  conducted  under  the  leading  of  Fecht, 
and  occupied  an  unusually  long  time.  On  the  sixteenth  of 
March,  the  new  ordinantia  was  ready,  which  the  above 
named  persons  subscribed,  "  in  their  own  behalf,"  and 
pledged  themselves  to  hold  and  comply  with,  as  far  as  could 
be  done,  and  it  won  general  consent. 

This  church  ordinantia  was  framed,  not  to  be  substituted 
for  the  lately  adopted  one  of  1571,  but  as  an  interpretation 
or  explication  of  it,  and  has  the  merit  of  accuracy  and  pre 
cision  in  many  cases  which  were  passed  over  in  the  former. 
It  is  worthy  of  note,  as  an  exemplification  of  the  discipline 
current  in  Sweden  for  nearly  twenty  years  after,  but  it  is  no 
less  so  on  another  account. 


460  HISTORY    OF    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

It  has  been  remarked,  that  the  aversion  of  king  John,  and 
those  of  like  sentiments,  toward  the  contemporaneous  Ger 
man  Lutheranism,  was  based  on  the  many  variant  opinions 
and  the  controversies  thereby  provoked,  which  well  nigh 
caused  Melancthon  to  be  pronounced  a  heretic,  and  threat 
ened  to  overthrow  the  peace  and  unity  of  the  church.  The 
same  year  that  the  plan  for  the  ordinantia,  which,  in  most 
respects,  is  a  confession  of  faith,  was  concerted  in  Sweden, 
there  took  place  the  first  attempt  of  a  serious  kind  to  effect 
a  union  among  Lutherans,  so  as  to  exclude  all  open  or 
secret  Calvinism  from  the  doctrine  respecting  the  Lord's 
Supper. 

The  year  after  the  ordinantia  was  adopted,  when  a  liturgy 
was  established  in  Sweden,  there  was  effected  among  the 
Lutherans  of  Germany  a  union,  which,  in  1577,  by  the  so- 
called  Form  of  Concord,  more  strictly  severed  the  Lutherans, 
as  well  from  the  Roman  church,  as  in  especial  from  Calvin 
ism.  Thus  was  abandoned  the  old  archbishop  Laurentius 
Petri's  plan  of  uniting  the  Swedish  church  with  that  of  the 
evangelical  Lutheran,  of  Germany,  just  at  the  point  of  time 
when  the  latter  began  to  attain  a  more  complete  stability 
and  unity ;  and  men  were  willing  to  go  back  from  a  settled 
confession  of  faith  into  the  momentous  disputes  of  the  times, 
at  the  very  moment  they  were  terminated  in  Germany. 
The  German  "  form  of  concord,"  a  child  of  nearly  the  same 
age  with  John  III.'s  ordinantia,  became,  at  last,  after  the 
lapse  of  ninety  years,  and  when  John's  building  of  union 
had  fallen,  the  rule  of  faith,  even  for  the  Swedish  church. 

The  principles  of  both  these  writings  are  the  same.  Al 
most  in  the  same  terms  as  the  form  of  concord,  the  Swedish 
ordinantia  declares,  that  "  the  Scriptures  are  the  standard 
and  the  test  of  all  writings."  But  here  commences  a  differ 
ence.  The  German  form  of  concord  adopts,  as  its  symbol, 
the  Augsburg  confession,  its  apology,  the  articles  of  Smal- 
cald,  and  Luther's  catechism,  terming  them  the  "  layman's 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  461 

bible,"  and  still  further  developed  and  determined  the  doc 
trines  then  in  dispute 

In  Sweden,  on  the  contrary,  no  mention  is  made  of  these 
writings.  It  is  declared,  that  men  are  to  be  satisfied  with 
"  the  '  simplicity  of  learning,'  Avhich  so  clearly  places  before 
us  what  we  believe  and  hope,  and  how  we  ought  to  live." 
In  controverted  points,  the  confession  of  the  primitive  church 
should  be  maintained,  as  that  is  testified  by  the  writings  of 
the  church  fathers.  These,  therefore,  ought  to  be  diligently 
read  and  carefully  studied.  The  authors  were  mentioned 
who  were  regarded  as  the  best,  from  the  apostles'  times  till 
the  death  of  Gregory  the  great,  in  604  ;  Ignatius,  Justin 
Martyr,  Irenaeus,  and  many  others,  the  chief  writers  of  the 
Greek  and  Latin  church. 

But,  as  even  among  the  church  fathers,  different  views 
present  themselves  ;  it  was  remarked,  that  in  their  writings 
the  subject  matter  is  twofold.  They  either  treat  of  doctrines 
of  faith,  in  which  they  all  agree,  and  "  of  which  there  has 
never  been,  is,  or  can  be,  among  the  godly,  any  disunion  or 
difference  of  belief,"  or  they  treat  of  questions  on  which  men 
may  think  differently  without  injury  to  salvation,  or  at  least, 
shaking  its  foundations. 

"  As  the  Scripture  is  not  of  human  origin,  but  God's  own 
strength  and  wisdom,  which  God  has  spoken  and  given 
through  men,  so  the  right  understanding  and  interpretation 
of  Scripture  is  not  of  every  man's  judgment  and  strength, 
but  is  God's  special  gift  and  the  work  of  the  Holy  Ghost." 
This  gift  ought  to  be  highly  esteemed.  This  gift  was  pos 
sessed  by  the  "  old  sound  godly  doctors  of  the  church,  espe 
cially  those  who  lived  next  the  apostles'  times,  and  in  the  be 
ginnings  of  Christianity."  Tertullian  also  says,  that  the 
first  and  oldest  is  the  surest,  but  that  which  is  new  and  of 
later  origin  is  uncertain  and  false.  This  is  the  reason  that 
men  ought  to  abide  by  the  writings  of  the  fathers,  and  after 
that,  to  compare  Scripture  with  Scripture,  and  seek  the 
meaning  of  Scripture  from  the  interpretation  of  the  fathers. 


462  HISTORY    OF    TUP]    ECCLESIASTICAL 

Individual  interpretation  of  Scripture  was  hereby  ex 
pressly  rejected.  "  By  individual  interpretation  is  meant 
that  which  each  man,  in  regard  to  Scripture  and  Christian 
learning,  after  his  own  opinion  and  will  does,  contrary  to 
the  principles  of  Scripture  and  the  quality  of  faith,  when  he 
casts  away  what  other  godly  men  aforetime  have  in  Ihe  mat 
ter  rightly  thought  and  taught."*  This  had  God  designed 
to  obviate,  by  the  office  of  preaching  and  the  oral  interpre 
tation  of  Grod's  word,  in  order  that  the  word,  which  in  it 
self  is  clear,  might  in  us  be  clear  and  comprehended. 

In  regard  to  modern  writings,  the  advice  is  given,  that 
simple  people  read  them  sparingly,  but  if  they  are  to  be  read, 
let  the  choice  rest  on  those  of  Luther,  Brent,  or  Melancthon. 
It  will  be  best  to  follow  the  elucidations  already  given  in 
the  church  discipline,  and  now  given  respecting  faith  and 
ceremonies.  Priests  are  dissuaded  from  reading  the  many 
postils  which  are  now  written  in  foreign  lands,  as  such  reading 
would  interfere  with  their  perusal  of  the  Scriptures  and  the 
postils  of  their  own  land.  For  the  purpose  of  obtaining 
access  to  the  sort  of  reading  recommended,  and  to  put  a 
check  upon  that  which  it  was  desired  to  lessen,  it  was  re 
solved  to  petition  the  king,  that  libraries  might  be  estab 
lished  in  all  cathedrals,  that  presses  and  paper  works  might 
be  encouraged,  that  books  imported  should  be  examined  by 
the  bishops  before  they  were  offered  for  sale,  and  that  the 
printing  of  Swedish  books  abroad  should  be  forbidden. 
Within  the  land,  no  book  should  be  allowed  to  be  printed 
till  it  was  examined  by  a  bishop.  For  this,  the  reason  was 
given,  good  in  itself,  but  probably  with  other  motives,  and 
not  very  much  to  the  point,  "  that  we  might  for  us  and  our 

*  The  archbishop,  in  a  programme,  thus  defines  private  interpretation  : 
"Private  interpretation  is  exercised  when  any  one  follows,  in  the  explication 
of  Scripture  and  doctrine,  his  own  spirit  and  not  the  sense  of  the  church." 
This  question  has  been  lately,  in  England,  one  of  the  most  urgent  controver 
sies  of  a  system  which,  allowing  for  times  and  circumstances,  is  as  near  as 
possible  like  the  liturgism  of  Sweden 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  463 

successors  keep  pure  and  right  our  Swedish  mother-tongue, 
unmixed  with  foreign  tongues,  either  Latin  or  German." 

Protestant  in  relation  to  the  form  of  faith,  church  usages, 
and  constitution,  as  they  had  been  exhibited  for  the  last 
thousand  years  within  the  church  of  Rome,  this  ordinantia 
was  tottering  and  vacillating  when  it  referred  to  the  writings 
of  the  first  centuries,  for  the  finding  of  truth.  It  was  the 
more  so,  as  the  very  doctrines  now  in  dispute  were  in  the 
first  ages  not  developed ;  and  when  it  acknowledged  no 
other  judge  than  the  church  fathers,  whose  evidence  was 
plenteously  quoted,  it  was  compelled  to  shun,  as  irrelevant 
and  over  curious,  every  doctrinal  question  which  went  be 
yond  the  old  church's  confession. 

It  defines  the  doctrine  of  man's  original  sin  as  chiefly  evil 
concupiscence,  the  forgiveness  of  sins  as  derived  solely  from 
God's  grace  and  mercy,  "  apart  from  all  human  aid,"  and 
received  through  faith ;  but  the  root  of  sin  remains.  Man, 
therefore,  must  always  acknowledge  himself  an  unprofitable 
servant,  though  works  of  faith  are  not  unprofitable. 

On  the  sacraments,  it  is  remarked,  that  the  term  means 
all  that  God  in  his  holy  word  has  commanded,  with  a  glori 
ous  promise  attached,  such  as  penance,  amendment,  prayer, 
temperance,  alms,  marriage,  God's  word  and  gospel,  and  its 
ordinances,  the  office  of  prince,  and  the  like.  But  the  things 
peculiarly  sacraments  are,  baptism  and  the  Lord's  Supper,  to , 
which  might  be  added  absolution  as  a  third.  They  have 
their  completeness  from  God's  word,  and  depend  not  upon 
the  worthiness  of  him  who  administers  them,  work  not  ex 
opcre  operato,  but  require  intelligence  and  faith,  are  not  in 
dispensable,  but  may  not  be  used  contrary  to  the  institution 
of  Christ,  such  as  the  baptism  of  bells,  the  putting  of  the 
bread  after  consecration  "  into  a  box  to  be  carried  through 
the  streets  in  procession,  like  a  play,  and  worshipping  it  as 
God  himself/'  Ceremonies  are  declared  to  be  adventitious 
things. 


464.  HISTORY    OF    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

Iii  treating  of  the  questions  at  this  time  agitated,  the 
ordinantia  is  especially  diffusive  on  tlie  Holy  Supper  of  tk-e 
Lord.  We  are  to  be  careful  of  the  errors  which  are  found, 
not  only  among  the  papists,  but  among  those  who  claim  for 
themselves  evangelical  faith.  We  are  to  abide  by  the  words. 
of  institution',  and  hold  our  judgment  imprisoned.  "  Were 
human  judgment  to  be  decisive  in  the  case,  then  the  Turk  has 
us  good  a  religion  as  we  j  so  have  the  sacramentarians  and  the 
anabaptists,"  "  If  any  old  customs  and  human  decrees  are 
to  prevail  over  God's  word,  our  case  is  no  better  than  that 
of  the  papists.  The  body  and  blood  of  Christ  are  really 
present  in.  their  natural  and  corporeal  essence,  not  merely 
in  their  power  to  be  participated  and  received  :  but  an  over 
curiosity  pretends  that  the  humanity  of  Christ,  as  well  as 
his  godhead,  is  always  in  all  creatures,,  and  in  all  places,, 
therefore,  also  in  the  Lord's  Supper.*  But  as  little  to  be 
accepted  is  the  popish  transubstantiation.  The  words  of  the 
fathers  do  not  imply  that  the  natural  essence  of  the  bread 
disappears  after  consecration.'* 

It  is  an  abuse,  practised  by  the  papists,  to  consecrate  the 
sacrament  not  to  be  received,  but  shut  up»  So,  also,  to  take 
away  the  cop,  which,  contrary  to  the- order  of  Christ,  they 
have  reserved  to  the  clergy  alone.  That  of  the  sacrament 
is  made  a  sire  offering  for  the  living  and  the  dead,  "  is  not 
only  unreasonable  and  a  plain  error,  but  is  to  be  regarded 
with  extreme  disapprobation  and  abhorrence."  Some  of 
the  fathers  had  called  it  sacrificium,  an  offering,,  but  because 
of  Christ's  true  body  and  blood  therein  present,  for  its  fruit, 
as  an  application  of  the  offering  of  Christ,  as  a  remembrance 
of  this  offering,  and  as  a  thank-offering.  In  regard  to  con 
fession,  was  expressly  rejected  the  popish  claim  to  an  enu 
meration  of  all  sins,  which  was  declared  to  be  contrary  to* 

*  An  express  disclaimer  of  the  doctrine  of  ubiquity,  which,  by  the  form* 
of  concord,  became  current  m  the  Lutheran  churcru  It  was  objected  to  as 
a  laying  of  false  principles,  nbiv  djone  in  some  foreign  lands- 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  465 

God's  word,  and  the  writings  of  the  fathers*  The  priest  was 
not  a  judge,  but  a  servant. 

It  was  acknowledged  that  confirmation  of  the  young  had 
not  been  properly  attended  to,  and  a  new  form  for  its  recep 
tion  was  adopted.  That  the  instruction  of  the  young  in 
Christianity  might  be  duly  cared  for  by  pastors,  parents,  and 
sponsors,  the  bishop,  or  if  he  could  not,  the  provost,  or  some 
others,  appointed  by  the  bishop  in  every  parish,  should  ex 
amine  the  youth,  previously  instructed  by  the  pastor  before 
such  examination.  After  examination,  the  visitor  should, 
with  exhortation  and  prayer,  confer  the  benediction  of  the 
laying  on  of  hands  upon  each  candidate. 

The  ordinantia  condemns,  in  many  words,  the  invocation 
and  worship  of  saints.  If  it  be  that  they  pray  for  us,  we 
ought  not  to  pray  to  them.  They  ought,  however,  to  be  held 
in  reverence,  especially  the  Virgin  Mary,  who  doubtless  was 
chosen  by  God  to  a  holy  office  before  she  was  conceived, 
and,  therefore,  sanctified  and  purified  by  the  Holy  Ghost  in 
the  womb,  and  afterward  ruled  by  the  same  Spirit  all  her 
days.  Care  must  be  taken  "  not  to  condemn  all  those,  and 
hold  them  as  castaways,  who  from  human  infirmity  have 
erred  in  this  article,  by  having  invoked  the  saints."  From 
the  number  of  saints'  days  previously  observed,  were  now 
withdrawn  the  festivals  of  Magdalen,  Laurcntius,  Corpus 
Christi,  the  assumption  and  nativity  of  the  Virgin  Mary. 

One  of  the  principal  objects  of  the  ecclesiastical  legisla 
tion  of  this  period,  was  the  restoration  of  church  discipline 
from  the  uncertainty  of  the  limits  for  its  application,  caused 
by  the  Reformation.  The  ordinantia  is  in  this  respect  very 
decided.  It  takes  note  of  twenty-nine  "  grievous  sins,"  com 
monly  called  notorious  crimes  (crimina  notoria),  which  for 
merly  were  subjected  to  the  punishment  of  -the  church,  and 
to  punish  which  was  still  her  right.  The  things  accounted 
crimes  are  such  as  militate  against  Christian  and  moral 
order.  There  are  also  enumerated  fifteen  sorts  of  church 

20* 


466  HISTORY    OF    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

punishments,  afterward  made  the  subjects  of  church  legis 
lation  ;  and  it  was  declared  that  some  of  them  had  Christ, 
others  of  them  had  his  apostles,  the  fathers,  and  the  congre 
gation  of  the  faithful,  prescribed,  and  that  they  ought  to  be 
respected  as  necessary  and  useful  church  punishments. 

This  jurisdiction,  it  belonged  to  the  priests,  the  servants 
of  Grod's  word,  to  use  and  exercise.  lint  the  servant  of 
God's  word,  be  he  who  he  may,  has  no  godly  right  or  license 
to  use,  as  the  expression  is,  both  swords  ;  for  the  Scripture 
speaks  clearly  to  the  contrary.  But  where  some  bishops 
and  men  of  the  church  have  worldly  right  and  authority, 
there  have  they  them  as  a  donation,  gift,  and  grant,  given 
and  granted  by  human  authority  and  permission. 

The  ordinantia  thus  puts  aside  all  the  claims  of  the  popish 
hierarchy.  But  it  does  not  define  the  limits  of  the  rights  of 
the  prince  within  the  church.  In  respect  only  to  the  elec 
tion  of  a  bishop,  it  settles  this  right  according  to  the  church 
ordinance  of  the  year  1571.  The  chapter  was  to  announce 
an  occurring  episcopal  vacancy,  to  the  prince,  who  there 
upon  should  call  in  the  votes  of  the  other  bishops,  and  most 
influential  priests  of  the  diocese,  for  a  successor,  according 
to  custom.  After  these  votes  were  given,  the  prince  ought 
to  investigate  which  of  those  voted  for  was  the  most  fit  per 
son,  and  nominate  him,  so  that  the  prince  has  the  chief  rote. 
For  the  valid  consecration  of  a  bishop,  prayer,  and  the  lay 
ing  on  of  hands,  are  declared  to  be  sufficient.  It  was  re 
garded  as  proper  to  use  the  episcopal  bonnet  and  staff,  the 
mitre,  and  crosier,  which  had  been  customary  since  the  time 
of  Constantine  ;  but  they  were  not  essential  to  the  office, 
or  to  consecration. 

The  chapter  was  to  consist  of  a  provost,  who  was  to  be 
the  bishop's  assistant,  a  dean,  who  was  to  have  the  over 
sight  of  schools,  and  examine  matters  relating  to  the  priest 
hood,  and  as  notary  keep  the  chapter's  records ;  an  archdea 
con,  who  was  also  to  be  reader  of  theology  and  public  peni- 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  467 

tentiary,  and  besides  these,  the  pastor,  schoolmaster,  and 
proctor. 

On  account  of  the  many  and  difficult  cases  which  fell  to 
the  jurisdiction  of  the  church,  and  that  a  good  ecclesiastical 
order  as  well  in  doctrine  as  in  church  discipline  might  be 
kept  up,  it  was  proposed  to  erect  in  Stockholm  an  ecclesi 
astical  consistory  (ecclcsiasticum  consistorium),  which  should 
consist  of  the  bishops,  and  of  "  old,  godly,  learned,  and  ex 
perienced  men."  They  were  to  meet  together  twice  a  year, 
or  oftener  if  it  was  necessary,  and  deliberate,  consult,  and 
give  their  opinions  upon  the  cases  respecting  doctrine,  or 
other  topics  laid  before  them  by  civilians  or  ecclesiastics. 

The  ordinantia  expresses  also  the  wish,  that  there  should 
be  appointed,  at  Stockholm,  a  reader  of  theology,  as  well 
for  the  sake  of  young  men  who  were  there  in  the  priesthood, 
or  at  court,  as  of  the  strangers  who  understood  Latin,  but 
not  the  language  in  which  divine  service  was  performed  in 
churches. 

It  concludes  with  lamenting  that  cloister  edifices  were  for 
the  most  part  destroyed.  It  allows  that  the  cloistral  life 
had  occasioned  great  abuses,  but  the  buildings  might  have 
been  turned  to  Christian  purposes.  The  cloisters  that  still 
remained,  or  could  be  repaired,  might  be  converted  into  a 
refuge  for  priests  advanced  in  years,  or  decayed,  and  others 
who  have  no  appetite  for  the  world  ;  or  for  aged  matrons  and 
young  Avomen  "  who  have  no  desire  for  marriage  or  are 
not  adapted  to  it,"  who  there  may  live  in  quiet,  and  in 
spiritual  exercises.  The  occupants  of  cloisters,  as  well  those 
for  men  as  women,  should  be  obligated  to  train  up  father 
less  and  motherless  children,  and  instruct  them  in  reading, 
writing,  singing,  and  sewing.  These  children  were  to  be 
recommended  by  the  prince.  There  was  to  be  no  lifetime 
vow.  Such  cloisters,  it  is  added,  would  be  properly  schools, 
and  it  would  be  an  honor  to  the  kingdom,  if  at  least  one 
such,  with  a  yearly  income,  were  found  in  every  diocese 


468  HISTORY    OF   TllE   ECCLESIASTICAL 

We  have  been  prolix  in  presenting  the  different  points 
of  this  ordinantia,  be-cause  it,  more  clearly  than  anything 
else,  exhibits  the  character  and  importance  of  the  often 
misconceived  reform  which  king  John  III.  aimed  to  intro 
duce  into  the  Swedish  church.  It  opposed  itself,  on  the  or.e 
hand,  to  the  Roman  church,  and  on  the  other,  not  merely  to 
Calvinism,  but  to  what  soon  after  was  current  as  the  sole 
pure  Lutheranism.  It  was  now,  however,  accepted  by  all 
the  men,  who,  afterward,  for  their  opposition  to  this  ordi 
nantia  and  the  liturgy,  hazarded  their  office  and  personal 
liberty.  But  it  was  accepted,  not  without  opposition  and 
many  scruples.  The  transactions,  which,  for  the  most  part, 
were  held  before'  the  king  himself,  were  unusually  pro 
longed.  On  the  IGth  of  March,  it  was  subscribed  by  those 
present. 

After  it  was  ready,  an  opinion  upon  it  was  demanded 
from  the  readers  at  the  college  of  Upsala  summoned  thence 
to  Stockholm.  They  found  the  church's  recognized  doctrine 
to  be  in  this  document,  provided  it  be  rightly  understood,  un- 
falsified,  and  presented  in  a  clear  light.  They  approved  of 
what  was  prescribed  respecting  ceremonies,  as  far  it  did 
not  create  scandal,  and  referred,  in  conclusion,  to  the  further 
explanation  of  the  bishops  and  the  consent  of  the  estates  of 
the  kingdom. 

Everything  shows  that  these,  and  a  large  number  of  those 
present  at  the  proceedings,  rather  yielded  an  acceptance  and 
acknowledgment,  in  order  to  avert  what  seemed  a  danger, 
than  actively  promoted  the  cause.  Questions  had  been 
mooted  on  some  other  points  than  those  comprised  in  the 
ordinantia.  Two  at  least  of  the  articles  previously  exhibited 
by  the  archbishop  were  omitted  in  the  ordinantia,  extreme 
unction,  and  prayers  for  the  dead  at  their  burial.  Anoint 
ing  at  the  consecration  of  bishops  had  been  proposed,  but 
was  rejected.  Fecht  was  the  active  man  in  carrying  through 
the  ordinantia,  exercised  the  greatest  influence  on  the  pro- 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  469 

ceedings  and  decrees,  and  was  arbitrary  enough  in  drawing 
it  up  in  writing.  His  signature,  in  which  he  promises  that 
nothing  shall  be  added,  altered,  or  taken  away  in  this 
ordinantia,  from  the  hour  it  was  subscribed,  shows  the  im 
patient  dread  lest  any  zealously  urged  addition  should  steal 
in,  lest  the  terms  in  which  truth  was  expressed,  or  the  exact 
limits  of  concession,  should  be  changed. 

After  the  ordinantia  had  thus  been  recognized  by  most  of 
the  bishops,  and  by  the  most  noted  men  of  the  church,  and 
thereby  even  the  ceremonies  of  the  episcopal  consecrations 
were  settled,  it  was  resolved  that  the  ordinations  of  the  yet 
unconsecrated  archbishop,  and  bishops  of  Linkoping  and 
Westeras,  should  take  place.  Bishop  Marten  had  already 
for  many  years  filled  his  see.  The  consecration  of  Erasmus 
had  been  contemplated  the  previous  year,  but  at  the  desire 
of  the  king  had  been  deferred.  Previously  to  the  ordinantia 
it  had  been  stipulated,  that  it  should  be  conducted  with 
greater  splendor  than  had  of  late  years  been  usual.  For 
this  consecration,  all  the  bishops  and  a  portion  of  the 
priests  of  Upsala  were  assembled,  in  the  beginning  of  the 
month  of  July.  The  king,  who  was  not  himself  present,  to 
heighten  the  external  splendor  of  the  solemnity  sent  thither 
four  of  the  principal  men  of  the  kingdom,  the  lord  chief' 
justice  Per  Brahe,  and  the  senators  Hogensk  Bjelke,  Erik 
Sparre,  and  Erik  Stenbock,  together  with  his  secretary, 
Fecht. 

The  impatience  which  already  betrays  itself  in  those  who 
had  consented  to  the  ordinantia,  was  here  put  to  a  new  trial, 
when  Fecht  unexpectedly  carne  forward  with  a  command 
from  the  king,  that  anointing  with  oil  should  be  used  in  the 
consecration  of  the  bishop.  This  custom,  which  had  been 
retained  in  Sweden  even  after  the  commencement  of  the 
Reformation,  and  we  suppose  until  ordinaries  were  put  in 
the  place  of  bishops,  was  afterward  eschewed  as  papistic, 
and  had,  in  1571,  been  omitted  from  the  church  ordinance. 


470  HISTORY    OF   THE   ECCLESIASTICAL 

Disturbance  and  dissatisfaction  were  now  awakened  by 
the  bitter  experience  so  constantly  repeated  in  human  life, 
that  concessions  only  provoke  new  claims.  The  bishops 
had  entered  the  same  middle  passage  to  the  church  of  Home 
with  the  king  himself.  A  correspondence  by  letters  was 
carried  on  between  the  king  and  archbishop.  The  former 
reminded  the  latter  of  his  engagement  respecting  ceremonies, 
wondered  why  he  disdained  the  ceremonies  which  both  in 
the  Old  and  New  Testament  were  used,  which  had  been 
employed  by  his  predecessor,  the  old  Laurentius  Petri,  and 
by  which  many  still  living  priests  had  been  consecrated  to 
their  office.  In  conclusion,  he  declared  that  the  archbishop 
as  well  as  the  bishop  of  Linkoping  must  submit  to  the 
anointing,  if  they  would  retain  their  office. 

The  archbishop  appealed  to  the  deliberations  before  the 
king  at  Stockholm  in  regard,  to  anointing,  to  the  tenor  of 
his  pledge,  in  which  the  mitre  and  crosier  were  mentioned, 
but  not  anointing.  This  custom  was  in  the  Roman  church 
attended  with  more  superstition  than  any  other.  Apart 
from  all  superstition,  he  could  for  his  part  accept  it,  if  the 
resulting  dissatisfaction  among  the  priests  did  not  grow  to 
such  a  height  as  to  make  a  separation  in  the  church  to  be 
apprehended.  The  clergy  present,  chiefly  from  the  diocese 
of  Upsala,  declared  their  disapprobation.  Such  ceremonies 
would  be  agreeable  to  the  partisans  of  the  old  church,  who 
said  that  the  old  church  usages  were  about  to  be  restored  ; 
would  be  the  cause  of  many  defections,  and  rouse  against 
the  clergy  the  just  reproach  of  levity. 

King  John,  for  the  first  time,  exhibits  in  this  matter  the 
obstinacy  with  which  he  afterward  handled  the  affairs  of 
the  church.  We  are  unacquainted  with  the  progress  of  the 
negotiations,  but  the  end  was  that  his  will  conquered.  The 
archbishop  was  anointed  with  oil,  at  the  splendid  consecra 
tion,  which  took  place  on  the  14th  of  July,  in  the  cathedral 
of  Upsala,  and  at  which  the  dress  of  the  old  times,  with 


REFORMATION   IN    SWEDEN.  471 

the  mitre  and  crosier,  was  borne  by  all  the  bishops.  He 
was  ordained  by  the  old  bishop  of  Abo,  P.  Juusten,  at  whose 
consecration,  by  bishop  Bothvid  of  Strangness,  these  cere 
monies  were,  probably,  used.  The  archbishop  afterward 
consecrated  the  two  bishops. 

During  the  gathering  together  at  Upsala,  Fecht  was  ac 
tive  in  recruiting  consentents  to  the  ordinantia.  He  engaged 
a  large  number  of  the  clergy  to  go  with  him  thence  to 
Stockholm,  where  the  subject  was  again  discussed;  but 
these  debaters  seemed  willing  to  pull  with  the  times,  and 
they  Avere  vanquished  by  a  desire  to  get  home,  accepting 
the  ordinantia  conditionally,  with  a  reserve  of  further  ex 
amination  some  time  hence.  It  was  accepted  as  an  exposi 
tion  of  the  church  ordinance  of  which  we  have  before 
spoken.  A  protestation  too  was  made,  that  they  by  no 
means  designed  by  such  acceptance  to  give  room  in  doctrine, 
,  church  usage,  or  any  indifferent  thing,  to  the  errors  contrary 
to  God's  word  and  the  faith  of  the  congregation,  which  the 
papists  and  others  harbored  and  entertained.  The  super 
stitions,  the  wrong  meanings,  on  account  of  which  these  cere 
monies  had  been  once  laid  aside,  they  hereby  had  no  intention 
to  recognize. 

The  new  regulations  were  regarded  as  adopted,  in  conse 
quence  of  the  subscriptions  of  the  bishops,  although  they 
were  not  sanctioned  by  a  church  council.  Such  a  council 
it  was  desirable  to  avoid,  in  order  that  increased  strength 
might  not  be  given  to  the  opposition.  Hence,  there  was 
no  effort  to  circulate  the  ordinantia  by  means  of  the  press. 
It  was  left  to  the  zeal  and  good  will  of  the  bishops  to  apply 
its  directions,  and  by  pastoral  letters,  visitations,  and  clerical 
meetings,  to  carry  its  various  points  into  practice.  It  there 
fore  proceeded  slowly  and  uncertainly,  and  might  almost  be 
considered  as  not  issued. 

The  most  energetic  among  the  churchmen  for  the  regene 
ration  it  was  desired  to  effect  in  the  church's  character  and 


472  HISTORY    OF    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

outward  order,  were  the  archbishop  and  bishop  Erasmus 
of  "Westeras.  The  latter  informs  the  king,  in  the  spring  of 
1575,  that  he  had  partly  introduced,  and  by  degrees  would 
introduce,  into  his  diocese,  the  order  and  ceremonies  now 
recognized.  His  zeal  soon  began  to  cool,  and  in  the  follow 
ing  year  the  king  complains  that  this  bishop,  as  well  as 
many  others,  began  to  draw  back.  The  energy  of  the 
former  was  more  comprehensive,  as  proceeding  from  a  higher 
position. 

On  the  first  of  February,  1576,  he  issued,  in  conformity 
with  his  promise  to  promote  in  academies  the  study  of  the 
church  fathers,  a  well-written  programme,  in  which  he  ex 
presses  himself  to  the  same  effect  as  in  the  ordinantia  re 
specting  the  writings  of  the  fathers  and  the  reading  of  them, 
and  gives  it  to  be  understood  that  an  hour  every  day  should 
be  spent  in  that  line  of  study.  Pie  urges  all  who  are 
in  the  priesthood  to  devote  their  attention  to  such  reading. 
The  same  year  he  put  to  press  a  catechism,  whose  contents 
may  be  judged  from  his  general  principles.  For  the 
solemnity  of  church  music,  he  directed,  by  a  circular  through 
the  archdiocese,  that  youths  should  assist  in  it ;  and  for  the 
musicians  a  place  was  to  be  provided  in  the  choir,  or  in  a 
part  of  the  church  built  specially  for  that  purpose. 

The  determination  to  circulate  the  works  that  breathed 
the  spirit  with  which  it  was  desired  to  animate  the  church, 
was  not  without  effect.  In  1576,  for  the  first  time  in 
Sweden,  was  printed  an  edition  of  the  celebrated  work  of 
Vincent ius  Lerinensis,  who  died  in  the  year  450,  which  by 
pronouncing  that  to  be  Christian  truth,  which  had  always, 
everywhere,  and  by  all,  been  received  as  such,  proclaimed 
the  very  principles  which  the  Swedish  church  now  appeared 
to  adopt.  In  the  following  year  a  translation  was  made 
into  Swedish  of  the  opinions  of  G-  Cassander,  of  which  we 
have  before  spoken. 

The  king  had  before  this  time  bestowed  his  attention  on 


REFORMATION    IX    SWEDEN.  473 

the  re-establishment  or  rebuilding  of  the  dilapidated  cathe 
drals  and  other  churches  in  the  towns  and  country,  and 
continued  to  do  so  during  the  whole  of  his  reign.  Priests 
and  congregations  never  in  vain  for  this  purpose  invoked 
his  helping  hand.  The  cloisteral  edifices,  and  churches 
also,  were  an  object  of  his  attention.  The  restoration  of 
Alvastra  was  already  contemplated  in  1573,  when  count  Per 
Brake  was  accused  of  having  demolished  the  buildings  there 
and  removed  the  materials  to  Wisingsborg, 

Duke  Charles  shared,  at  least  at  first,  this  care  of  the 
king  for  the  cloister  edifices.  In  1574,  he  called  the  atten 
tion  of  the  king  to  Warnhem,  situated  in  his  dukedom,  and 
to  the  question  of  its  and  its  church's  restoration.  From 
1575  the  king's  care  of  this  matter  became  still  more  active. 
He  received  this  year  information  that  the  church  of  Alvas 
tra  was  in  good  preservation,  that  the  cloister-house  might 
be  rebuilt,  but  that  the  other  buildings  were  more  in  ruins, 
and  that  the  park  should  be  enclosed  and  provided  with  a 
keeper.  The  year  after  he  gives  order  that  the  church 
should  be  put  in  complete  repair,  and  divine  service  be  there 
held.  This  was  at  once  commenced,  at  the  same  time  with 
the  restoration  of  the  cloisters  of  Nadendals,  Askaby,  Arno, 
and  Stockholm.  Of  the  establishment  of  cloisters  as  a  pro 
posed  object  of  the  ordinantia,  we  have  no  information. 

The  concern  previously  felt  for  the  king's  inclination  to 
popish  doctrines,  was,  by  these  changes,  still  more  increased. 
It  proved  how  little  participation  was  to  be  expected  on  the 
part  of  the  people  in  such  a  return.  It  was  employed  as  a 
fertile  accusation  against  the  king,  in  their  plans  for  setting 
free  the  imprisoned  king  Erik,  and  elevating  him  again  to 
the  throne.  These  imputations  made  no  noise  till  1574, 
when  the  people  of  Upland  showed  an  inclination  to  release 
the  unhappy  prisoner  from  the  castle  of  Orby.  But  they 
became  more  rife,  when,  during  the  two  following  years, 
plots  were  formed  in  West  Gothland  and  Smaland  by  a 


474  HISTORY    OF    THE    E€CLESIASTICAL 

priest,  one  Mauritz  of  Bone,  in  the  diocese  of  Skara.  The 
movements  in  behalf  of  king  Erik  provoked,  on  March  10, 
1575,  from  the  council  and  the  "  bishops  and  prelates " 
assembled  at  Stockholm  for  setting  up  the  ordinantia,  a 
motion  for  that  prince's  death.  This  death  is  rendered 
more  melancholy  by  its  connection,  at  least  in  point  of  time, 
with  the  changes  that  were  designed  for  the  church's  im 
provement. 

The  separation  within  the  Swedish  church  which  the 
archbishop  apprehended,  began  already  to  be  manifested  not 
only  in  the  disinclination  to  the  projects  of  the  king  and 
Fecht,  but  also  in  the  threatened  defection  from  the  new 
order  of  things,  of  the  church  in  the  dukedom  of  Charles. 
The  duke,  who,  in  1574,  became  attentive  to  the  direction 
which  the  effort  to  improve  the  church  began  to  take,  or 
apprized  of  the  purpose  of  the  council  of  Stockholm  in  1575, 
immediately  wrote  a  letter  to  the  bishop  of  Striingness,  ac 
quainting  him  with  the  position  which  the  church  of  his 
principality  would  assume,  as  far  as  depended  on  the  duke 
himself.  He  reminded  the  bishop  of  the  character  and 
nature  of  the  church  during  his  father's  reign  and  to  this 
hour,  and  how  he  doubted  not  that  Almighty  God  would 
henceforward  avert  all  heretical  doctrines,  "the  pope's 
fables  and  tricks."  He  would  also  admonish  the  bishop  to 
hold  fast  to  the  pure  doctrine,  which  in  the  time  of  the 
duke's  father  had  been  generally  preached  and  acknowledged 
in  the  kingdom,  and  also  to  keep  his  clergy  steadfast  in  the 
true  confession  of  faith.  As  the  Swedish  church  had  for 
the  most  part  conformed  to  the  church  of  Wittenberg,  in 
harmony  with  the  writings  of  Luther  and  Melancthon,  so 
it  was  advisable  she  should  continue  in  the  same  course. 
The  duke,  therefore,  transmitted  to  him  the  confession 
respecting  the  Lord's  Supper,  which  the  theologians  of  the 
dukedom  of  Saxony  had,  in  1574,  drawn  up  at  Torgau. 

The  duke  appointed  the  bishop  to  meet  him  at  Orebro, 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  475 

*  while  the  latter  was  busy  with  the  transactions  at  Stockholm. 

|  At  this  meeting  Charles  expressly  declared,  what  he  soon 

ji  lifter,  Feb.  19,  repeated  in  a  letter  to  the  bishop,  that  he 

I  designed  on  his  part  "  to  make  no  new  unnecessary  changes 

in  religion  whatever,  whether  in  points  of  moment  or  in 

ceremonies,  for  this  could  not  be  done  without  danger  and 

scandal  to  many  men.      *  And  you  may,"  concludes 

the    duke,    "  communicate    these   our   views  to  whom  you 

please,  for  so  we  are  persuaded." 

Bishop  Nils,  who  was  now  placed  between  two  fires,  but, 
as  is  shown  by  his  subsequent  course,  more  inclined  to 
John's  than  Charles's  views,  took  part  in  the  council  of 
Stockholm,  in  the  spring  of  1575,  and  subscribed  and 
recognized  the  ordinantia.  When  the  question  arose  of  its 
introduction  into  the  diocese  of  Stiiingness,  the  duke  pro 
fessed  that  he  feared  that  this  church  ordinance,  although 
seeming  to  have  a  good  sense,  would  not  bear  good  fruit, 
but  would  produce,  by  the  change  in  public  worship,  scandal 
among  the  people.  His  opinion,  therefore,  was,  that  it 
ought  not  precipitately  to  be  introduced  into  the  churches. 
In  his  cathedral  of  Striingness,  the  bishop  could  introduce 
such  ceremonies  as  he  pleased,  or  as  were  usual  in  other 
cathedrals.  "  Nothing,  however,  might  be  allowed  in  cere 
monies,  which  has  any  savor  of  popery,  even  if  a  specious 
pretext  might  be  offered  for  the  same." 

Upon  this  very  point,  in  the  following  years,  were  opinions 
divided,  whether  the  projected  changes  had  a  savor  of 
popery,  or  of  the  Christian  church,  which  Lutheran  protest 
antism,  turning  to  the  purer  times  of  the  church,  considered 
to  be  its  own  type.  When  the  reform  in  Sweden,  by  the 
publication  of  the  new  liturgy,  proceeded  a,  step  further,  a 
large  part  of  the  clergy  and  men  of  the  church  found  them 
selves  compelled  to  draw  back,  and  the  dreaded  separation 
occurred. 


476  HISTORY    OF    THE    ECCLESIASTIC  A 1 


CHAPTER   IY. 

THE  LITURGY. 

THE  principal  object  of  the  change  king  John  and  Fecht 
wished  to  eifect  in  the  church  was  the  divine  service,  and 
especially  the  mode  of  celebrating  the  Lord's  Supper.  It 
seemed  to  them,  that  by  the  Reformation  the  reverence  for 
the  most  holy  thing  in  the  worship  of  Christianity  had  either 
disappeared,  or  been  diminished.  It  had  disappeared  in 
Calvinism,  which  denied  the  real  presence  of  the  body 
arid  blood  of  Christ  in  the  Lord's  Supper,  a  denial  which 
too  often  coincided  with  a  scorn  of  the  pious  worship  of  the 
papist.  This  reverence  again  seemed  diminished  even  in 
the  Lutheran  church,  which,  till  now,  had  been  unable  by 
convincing  proofs  to  secure  its  confession  against  the  assaults 
of  Calvinism,  and  had  become  too  much  infected  with  a 
slight  regard  for  the  sacrament.  The  service  of  the  mass 
by  Olaus  Petri,  which,  till  now,  was  used  in  the  Swedish 
church,  appeared  too  meagre  and  cold,  and  moved  neither 
priest  nor  layman  to  a  deeper  piety. 

Subsequently  to  the  few  changes  which  were  proposed 
by  king  John  and  Fecht,  and  which  passed  at  the  council 
of  Stockholm,  in  1574,  and  subsequently  to  the  short  visit 
of  Warsewitz,  which  gave  clearness  to  the  views  of  these 
men,  they  began  at  the  same  time  with  the  plan  of  the 
ordinantia,  which  was  adopted  the  following  year,  to  work 
upon  a  new  order  for  the  mass  in  the  church  of  Sweden. 

The  fruit  of  this  labor  was  the  traduced  liturgy,  or  the 


HEFOHMATION    IK    SWEDEN.  477 

fed  book,  as  it  was  wont  to  be  called,  from  the  color  of  the 

binding  of  the  printed  volume.     They  had  collated  with  it 

j  many  liturgies,  which  were  respectable  for  their  antiquity, 

i  or,  at  least,  laid  claim  to  such  respect.     They  based  their 

;  own  upon  the  Roman  missal,  but  examined  and  altered  this, 

according  to  the  principles  which  before   the  liturgy  was 

completed,  were  publicly,  in  1575,  set  forth  in  the  ordinan- 

tia.     The  first  difference  it  at  once  betrays  from  the  mass 

of  Olaus  Petri,  is,  that  the  title  is  given  only  in  Latin,  the 

preface  in  Latin,  the   liturgy  itself  not  merely  in  Swedish, 

but  also  in  Latin,  while   all   the   directions  for  the   priests, 

with  the  marginal  remarks  and  notes,  are  only  in  Latin. 

The  Swedish  mass  of  Olaus  Pctri,  on  the  one  hand,  in 
the  length  of  the  service,  and  in  many  particulars  as  to  the 
contents,  resembled  the  Roman  mass,  although  from  the 
former  was  rejected  whatever  in  the  latter  militated  against 
God's  word  in  Scripture,  together  with  superfluous  prayers 
and  practices.  John  III.'s  liturgy,  on  the  other  hand,  did 
not  want  all  similitude  to  the  mass  hitherto  customary  in 
the  Swedish  church.  But,  while  from  this  it  retained  the 
exhortation  and  confession  at  the  beginning  of  divine  service, 
and  the  preface  for  the  mass  of  the  Lord's  Supper,  there 
was  added  a  declaration,  that  the  former  might  be  sometimes 
used,  the  latter  when  deemed  useful  and  necessary.*"  Upon 
the  contrary,  the  liturgy  took  many,  or  properly  speaking, 
all  the  parts  of  the  Roman  mass,  but  omitted  the  crossings, 
bowings,  and  altar  kissings,  and  changed  its  offensive  ex 
pressions.  It  retained  also  the  prayers  and  psalms,  which 
the  Roman  mass  prescribes  to  the  priest  when  putting  on  the 
mass-dress  and  washing  his  hands. 

It  may  be  proper  to  present  some  points  of  comparison, 
which  were  most  commented  on  during  the  succeeding  con« 

*  In  the  notes  the  words  of  institution  were  quoted  frotn  six  different 
liturgies,  from  the  so-called  apostolic,  St.  James's,  that  of  Basil,  Chry- 
sostom,  Ambrose,  and  Gregory  the  Great  or  the  Roman. 


478  HISTORY   OF   THE   ECCLESIASTICAL 

troversies.  The  Roman  mass  has  the  words,  "  We  beseech 
thee  *  *  *  that  thou  wouldst  accept  and  bless  these  gifts, 
these  things  presented,  these  holy  and  pure  offerings,  espe 
cially  those  which  we  present  before  thee  for  thy  holy 
universal  church,*  which  thou  vouchsafest  to  deliver,  to 
protect,  *  *  *  and  with  thy  servant  our  pope,  and  our 
spiritual  rulers  [their  names  are  recited],  as  well  as  all  the 
faithful  in  Christ."  The  Swedish  liturgy  has,  "  We  beseech 
thee  *  *  *  that  thou  wouldest  accept  and  graciously  hear 
our  prayers  which  we  present  before  thee  for  thy  holy 
universal  Christian  church,  which  thou  vouchsafest  to 
deliver,  to  protect,  *  *  *  and  with  all  princes,  spiritual 
and  temporal,  of  whatsoever  dignity,  rank,  and  name  they 
be,  as  well  as  all  the  faithful  in  Christ."  Instead  of  the 
remaining  prayers  (memento),  and  remembrance  of  the  saints, 
in  the  Roman  mass,  the  liturgy  has  a  prayer,  that  the 
bread  and  wine  might,  "  by  righteous  use,"  become  to  us 
the  boly  and  blood  of  Christ.  The  most  offensive  passage 
was  the  following :  "  Thy  same  Son,  the  same  offering, 
which  is  a  pure,  holy,  and  undeliled  offering,  for  our  expia 
tion,  shield,  screen,  and  shelter  from  thy  wrath,  from  the 
terrors  of  sin  and  death,  presented  for  us,  we  embrace 
and  receive  with  faith,  and  with  our  humble  prayers 
present  before  thy  glorious  Majesty."  The  order  of  the 
prayers  and  actions  were  sometimes  transposed.  The  words 
of  holy  Scripture  are  quoted  in  the  Latin,  from  the  so-called 
Vulgate  version,  but  are  altered  in  some  places  according  to 
the  original  text.  The  words  of  the  Swedish  Bible  are  in 
correspondence,  and  independent  of  the  translation  made  in 
the  year  1541.  The  annotations  partly  explain  the  ex 
pressions  that  occur,  or  refute  erroneous  meanings. 

That  which  is  not  the  least  remarkable  in  the  liturgy,  is 
the  preface  given  by  the  archbishop,  which  contains  a  strong 

*  "Catholic."     This  word  John's  Hturgy  translates  into  "Universal." 


REFORMATION   IN    SWEDEN.  479 

lure  of  the  preceding  times.  Mankind,  he  says,  are  tossed 
i  bet  ween  two  extremes,  superstition  and  irreverence.  Our 
•predecessors  had  to  contend  against  superstition  ;  but  it  was 
[to  be  feared  they  had  gone  too  far,  and  thereby  left  their 
^flocks  a  prey  to  the  too  cruel  wild  beasts  of  irreverence  and 
unbelief.  They  had  thoughtlessly  loosened  the  bonds  of 
order  and  church  discipline,  and  opened  a  door  to  dissolute 
ness,  against  which  the  battle  was  now  to  be  waged.  There 
need  be  no  fear,  that  by  restoring  exercises  of  piety  and  use 
ful  regulations,  the  people  would  again  fall  into  superstition. 
Piety  should  not  merely  be  found  in  the  heart,  but  manifest 
itself  in  the  life  of  the  whole  man,  in  the  speech  and  beha 
vior.  In  order  that  beginning  with  the  priests,  especially 
in  the  administration  of  the  Lord's  Supper,  these  acts  of 
piety  might  be  restored,  since  by  neglect  of  them  piety  itself 
had  greatly  decayed,  a  more  spiritual  order  for  the  mass  had 
been  re-established ;  and  this  attempt  to  resist  the  contagion 
of  a  contempt  of  holy  things,  which  the  sacramentarians 
were  spreading,  ought  to  be  thankfully  welcomed. 

From  the  spring  of  157G,  the  liturgy  having  been  printed, 
began  to  be  circulated  throughout  the  land.  It  was  pub 
lished  in  the  name  of  the  archbishop,  who,  however,  had 
taken  no  part  in  its  composition.  It  was  the  work  of  Fecht 
and  the  king.  That  Ilcrbst  lent  his  assistance,  is  a  suppo 
sition  that  wholly  wants  proof.  He  was  thought  to  have 
more  of  the  king's  confidence  than  he  really  possessed. 
Equally  groundless  is  the  supposition  that  the  Jesuits  either 
wrote  or  were  concerned  in  its  preparation.  No  Jesuit  was 
in  the  land  when  this  liturgy  was  compiled.  But  the  pref 
ace  seems,  for  good  reasons,  to  have  been  written  rather  by 
the  archbishop  than  any  one  else.  It  was  at  the  close  of 
the  year  1576,  that  this  preface  was  added.  Laurentius 
Petri  showed  a  compliance  which  the  promoters  of  the  lit 
urgy  too  well  understood  how  to  use,  and  which  he  soon 
had  cause  bitterly  to  repent.  This  easiness  had  its  basis  in 


480  HISTORY    OF   THE   ECCLESIASTICAL 

a  congruity  of  views,  but  he  went  beyond  the  limits  of  what 
a  man  is  required  to  do  for  his  friends,  when  he  was  ready, 
more  than  once,  to  lend  his  name  and  the  influence  of  his 
office  to  the  writings  laid  before  him  for  subscription.  The 
first  promulgation  of  the  liturgy  was  not  followed  by  any 
command  that  it  should  be  used.  It  was  expected  that  this 
would  by  degrees  take  place  through  the  bishops,  in  their 
dioceses,  and  that  they  would  make  it  known  by  formally 
bringing  it  into  use  in  the  congregations ;  an  acquiescence  in 
it  was  also  sought  by  separate  negotiations.  The  issue  of 
these  attempts  would  certainly  have  deterred  any  less  capri 
cious  man  than  king  John,  or  one  less  persuaded  of  the  truth 
and  righteousness  of  his  cause. 

In  the  month  of  March,  1576,  it  was  brought  to  duke 
Charles  by  Goran  Gera,  Erik  Sparre,  and  secretary  Henri k 
Mattsson,  who  for  divers  purposes  were  sent  to  Nykoping, 
from  the  king.  He  requested  that  the  liturgy  should  be 
used  in  the  dukedom,  as  in  the  rest  of  the  kingdom.  The 
duke  answered  evasively,  and  half  reproachfully,  "  What 
the  new  church  customs  require  he  could  not  so  quickly  and 
easily  conform  to,  calling  to  remembrance  that  he,  and  his 
brothers  and  sisters,  had  been  solemnly  counselled  and  ad 
monished,  in  their  father's  will,  to  beware  of  human  devices 
and  double  doctrines." 

Continued  negotiations,  during  the  summer  and  autumn, 
could  not  win  from  the  duke  a  more  fcivorable  answer.  The 
duke,  and  the  clergy  of  his  dukedom,  forthwith  took  a  posi 
tion  from  which  they  could  neither  be  allured  nor  driven. 
Mindful  of  his  rights,  he  previously  caused  extracts  to  be 
collected  from  the  records,  on  which  he  grounded  his  claim 
to  spiritual  and  temporal  jurisdiction  within  his  duchy.  He 
finally  assembled,  at  Nykoping,  the  representatives  of  his 
dukedom,  who,  on  September  20,  157G,  pledged  themselves 
to  steadfastly  protect  the  true  faith  and  doctrine,  and  not  to 
accept  other  ceremonies  than  those,  which  from  the  time 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN".  481 

of  king  Gustavus  to  the  present,  were  in  Christian  use.  No 
express  mention  was  made  of  the  ordinantia  or  liturgy ;  but 
the  reception  that  these,  and  especially  the  latter,  had  to 
expect  in  the  diocese,  was  plainly  signified. 

Within  tli3  dukedom,  disposition  was  already  apparent 
Btill  further  to  lessen  and  remove  all  novelties.  We  have 
before  noticed  in  what  manner  even  bishop  Erasmus,  of 
Westeras,  began  to  look  about  him.  But  the  signs  of  a 
more  active  opposition  commenced  at  Stockholm,  from  its 
pastor  master  Olof,  and  its  schoolmaster  master  Abraham. 
Although  the  priests  of  that  city  subscribed  the  ordinantia 
of  1575,  they  yet  refused  to  execute  its  prescriptions,  as 
poon  as  it  was  manifest  by  the  liturgy  into  what  measures 
they  might  be  led,  if  they  went  forward  in  the  path  they  had 
begun  to  take.  They  refused  to  celebrate  the  festival  of 
Corpus  Christi,  which  occurred  in  June,  and  was  prescribed 
in  the  ordinantia,  but  might  reasonably  give  birth  to  their 
hesitancy,  from  its  near  connection,  in  the  Roman  church, 
with  the  doctrine  of  transubstantiation.  When,  in  autumn, 
the  festival  of  the  Virgin  Mary,  September  8,  was  approach 
ing,  they  refused  to  celebrate  it,  and  expressly  declared  their 
purpose  not  to  acknowledge  the  liturgy,  the  commencement 
of  whose  use,  at  Stockholm,  was  appointed  for  that  day. 
This  open  repugnance  was  more  than  king  John  could  bear, 
especially  as  it  might  become  a  dangerous  example,  from  the 
respect  entertained  for  the  men  who  thus  opposed  the  riew 
order  of  things. 

On  the  7th  of  September,  the  day  before  the  festival  of  the 
birth  of  the  Virgin  Mary,  the  two  chaplains,  Erik  Petri,  and 
Petrus  Erici,  together  with  master  Olof,  and  master  Abra 
ham,  were,  as  rcpugnants,  deprived  of  their  office  and  kept 
prisoners  in  their  houses.  The  king  accused  them,  not  only 
of  disregard  of  the  church  ordinance,  but  of  disobedience  to 
the  command  of  the  temporal  prince. 

When  the  noise  of  the  increasing  storm  began  to  wax 
21 


482  HISTORY    OP    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

louder,  Fccht  left  the  country,  but  introduced  another 
man,  who  exerted  no  inconsiderable  influence  on  succeeding 
transactions. 

King  John  had  at  last  overcome  his  repugnance  to  enter 
into  open  correspondence  with  Home,  and  determined  to 
send  Pontus  de  la  Gardie,  and  Fecht,  into  Italy.  The 
avowed  reason  for  their  journey  was  to  obtain  Gregory 
XIII.  's  support  in  persuading  the  emperor  to  enter  into  a 
confederacy  against  Russia,  and  if  necessary,  against  Den 
mark.  The  embassy  was  also  to  receive  from  Spain  the 
maternal  inheritance  of  the  Swedish  queen,  and  for  that  pur 
pose  to  negotiate  at  Naples  with  the  Spanish  vice-king,  Igna 
tius  Mendoza.  The  secret  commission  was  to  enter  into  a 
negotiation  with  Home  respecting  a  church  union,  which 
John  proposed  on  the  conditions  he  soon  after  again  set 
forth.  The  king  seems  now,  especially,  to  have  laid  great 
weight  on  obtaining  bishops  that  were  not  sundered  from 
the  unity  of  the  church.  We  can,  from  the  king's  and 
Fecht's  stand-point,  very  easily  comprehend  their  scruples 
on  the  validity  and  efficacy  of  an  episcopate  severed  from 
the  church's  outward  unity,  and  their  wish  to  remove  those 
scruples  by  a  new  inoculation  of  bishops  from  Rome,  of 
whose  bishop  they  thus  acknowledge  the  rights  of  a  patri 
arch  over  the  Swedish  church.  But  the.king  did  not  ven 
ture,  and,  indeed,  did  not  wish  to  allow  such  bishops  to  be 
nominated  abroad,  or  that  foreigners  should  fill  the  office,  or 
even  that  the  consecration  should  be  performed  by  Roman 
catholics.  He  therefore  requested  of  the  pope  to  permit  him 
to  nominate  them  himself,  and  to  allow  them  to  be  conse 
crated  in  Sweden  by  some  man  previously  ordained  for  that 
purpose.  Fecht  was  the  man  selected  to  be  consecrated  at 
Rome,  and  afterward  to  propagate  a  purer  episcopacy  in 
his  fatherland. 

This  project  sufficiently  shows  how  little  the  king  and 
Fecht  understood  the  Roman  church,  and  as  little  the  deci- 


•REFORMATION   IN   SWEDEN.  483 

ded  direction  in  which,  after  the  council  of  Trent,  it  resolved 
to  renew  its  youth.  The  judgment  of  this  church,  on  the 
whole  reform  of  king  John,  was  based  on  Possevin's  judg 
ment  of  Fecht,  to  whose  efforts  he  found  three  reasons  to 
object.  The  first  was,  that  though  Fecht  had  some  incli 
nation  for  catholic  truth,  he  wanted  the  necessary  training 
for  the  cause  he  had  taken  in  hand.  He  had,  therefore, 
compounded  a  sort  of  "mixed  theology,"  without  distin 
guishing  times  and  circumstances,  when  some  things,  such  as 
the  reception  of  the  Eucharist  in  both  kinds,  and  the  mar 
riage  of  priests,  may  be  tolerated,  allowed,  or  enjoined,  ac 
cording  as  the  church  has  occasion  to  declare  the  sense  of  the 
Holy  Ghost.  The  second  objection  was,  that  although  Fecht 
perceived,  and  even  told  the  king  that  the  composing  of 
mass  books  and  the  like  belonged  not  to  laymen,  yet  he, 
himself,  was  concerned  in  what  he  disapproved.  The  third 
objection  was,  that  although  married,  he  hoped  to  hold  from 
the  pope  the  office  of  priest  and  bishop,  without  violating 
the  required  vow  of  chastity. 

Although  Fecht  came  to  Rome,  he  was  not  able  to  gain 
the  object  for  which  he  came.  Perhaps  he  would  not  have 
remained  in  his  former  stand-point  without  either  becoming 
wholly  converted  to  Rome,  or  by  this  nearness  to  the  focus 
of  papacy  recoiling  to  protestantism.  Perhaps,  had  he  re 
turned  to  Sweden,  he  would  have  entered  more  deeply  into 
the  interests  of  his  king,  his  fatherland,  and  its  church. 

A  higher  power  had  otherwise  ordained.  The  vessel 
which,  in  November  of  1576,  was  to  have  carried  him  and 
De  la  Gardie  to  Germany,  was  wrecked  near  Bornholm. 
De  la  Gardie  was  saved,  and  pursued  his  journey  to  Rome. 
Fecht,  who  depended  on  his  skill  in  swimming,  cast  him 
self  into  the  water  to  swim  to  land,  and  perished  in  the 
waves.  His  body  was  found,  and  buried  at  Bornholm. 

King  John  was  probably  the  only  person  who  experienced 
a  great  loss  in  this  unexpected  death  of  his  faithful  friend, 


4.84  HISTOKY    OF    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

just  when  he  was  about  to  finish  the  fall  arrangement  of 
their  plans.  Few,  or  none  of  his  party  appear  fully  to  have 
comprehended  them,  and  both  protestants  and  papists  saw 
in  his  removal  by  death  the  righteous  judgment  of  God; 
the  former,  for  what  they  termed  his  defection  ;  the  latter, 
for  his  presumption  in  being  willing  to  advise  in  the  affairs 
of  the  church. 

But  when  Fecht  for  the  last  time  left  Sweden,  he  had 
introduced  to  the  king's  favor  a  man,  who  for  a  time  pos 
sessed  his  confidence,  and  no  doubt  had  great  influence  in 
promoting  the  plans  and  views  for  which  Fecht  took  his 
journey.  This  man  was  the  Jesuit  Laurentius  Nicolai, 
Dorn  in  Norway,  won  to  the  Roman  church  during  his 
[ravels,  and  made  a  Jesuit  at  Louvain.  He  came  to  Stock - 
hokn  in  April,  1576,  concealed  his  real  belief,  which  was 
not  suspected  by  the  Norwegians,  and  won,  by  his  learning 
and  insinuating  manners,  the  confidence  of  even  the  clergy 
of  Stockholm. 

The  wish  expressed  in  the  ordinantia,  that  a  reader  of 
theology  might  be  established  in  Stockholm,  had  not  yet 
been  accomplished.  It  was,  however,  in  contemplation  ; 
and  previously  to  the  coming  of  Laurentius  it  had  been  re 
solved  to  set  up  a  literary  institution  in  the  former  convent 
of  grey-friars,  now  called  the  holme  of  the  knights.  In 
Laurentius,  who  was  well  versed  in  the  language  of  the 
country,  a  suitable  man  was  thought  to  be  found  for  a 
teacher,  and  he  was  accordingly  appointed  to  the  post.  The 
new  institution  was  opened  in  August,  1576,  under  the 
usual  name  of  a  college.  From  his  domicil  and  activity, 
Laurentius  acquired  the  well  known  name  of  Klosterlasse, 
or  the  man  loaded  with  a  cloister. 

The  disguise  under  which  he  appeared,  allowed  him  to 
enter  into  the  king's  and  Fecht's  views  of  Catholicism,  in 
which  they  nattered  themselves  that  they  were  joined  by 
the  men  of  the  Roman  church,  but  in  which  these  latter  saw 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  485 

only  the  beginning  of  a  complete  conversion.  It  was  natu 
ral  that  he,  as  long  as  the  mask  was  not  removed,  should  be 
a  zealous  advocate  OL  the  liturgy,  especially  as  this  was  a 
means  of  getting  rid  of  the  very  dangerous  opponents  of  his 
schemes,  master  Olof  and  master  Abraham,  the  pastor  and 
schoolmaster  at  Stockholm,  who  already  began  to  penetrate 
his  real  character.  He  must  therefore  rise  in  the  king's 
favor,  in  proportion  as  it  was  lost  by  those  men. 

The  imprisoned  priests  of  Stockholm  were  not  subdued. 
When  the  question  of  the  liturgy  came  up,  they  and  the 
two  chaplains  produced  a  declaration  of  principles,  which 
opened  a  challenge  of  war  against  the  liturgy ;  the  firstling 
of  a  great  host  of  controversial  writings,  which  on  that  sub 
ject  marched  forward  from  that  hour  till  the  close  of  the 
contest.  They  presented,  with  firmness,  dignity,  and  vigor, 
their  objections,  for  the  most  part  the  same  as  those  after 
ward  urged.  Their  reasons  for  refusing  to  accept  the  lit 
urgy  were  as  follows : 

As  no  just  complaint  could  be  brought  against  the  order 
of  the  mass  hitherto  used  in  Sweden,  there  was  no  reason 
for  a  change,  especially  as  a  change  would  be  attended  with 
scandal,  which  God's  word  forbids  us  to  provoke.  Their 
forefathers  had,  at  Upsala,  in  1549,  upon  the  question  of 
the  Interim,  for  themselves  and  their  successors,  promised  to 
abide  by  the  doctrine  and  usages  of  the  evangelical  church. 
To  this,  the  reverence  due  their  forefathers  obliged  their 
posterity  to  adhere.  The  ceremonies  which  it  was  now 
desired  to  append  13  those  hitherto  customary,  changed  the 
Lord's  Supper  into  a  sacrifice.  By  this  means,  the  papal 
doctrine  was  encouraged,  and  men  were  drawn  into  the 
same  yoke  with  those  who  held  false  opinions.  The  sacri 
fice  of  the  mass  thus  became  accepted,  and  there  seemed  an 
express  avowal  of  the  papul  errors,  as  there  was  also  a  prayer 
for  the  pope,  under  a  shadowy  disguise.  The  liturgy  laid 
great  stress  upon  the  dress  and  attire  of  the  priest,  as  if 


486  HISTORY    OF    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

there  was  in  them  some  special  sanctity ;  made  the  sacra 
ment  dependent  on  the  piety  and  prayers  of  the  priest,  and 
enjoined  canonical  times  and  fasts,  as  if  they  were  com 
manded  by  God. 

They  meant  not,  by  their  refusal  to  acknowledge  the  lit- 
nrgy,  to  deny  the  obedience  and  duty  they  owed  their  law 
ful  prince.  They  had  every  reverence  for  the  king  when 
he  commanded  what  concerned  the  peace  of  the  true  church, 
and  the  maintenance  of  good  order.  But,  as  the  liturgy 
disquieted  God's  congregation,  and  called  down  God's 
wrath,  by  the  recognition  of  false  doctrines,  they  prayed 
God  to  change  the  king's  mind,  so  that  he  might  not  wish 
to  command  the  observance  of  this  order  of  the  mass  in  his 
kingdom. 

This  opposition  was  regarded  as  the  individual  conviction 
of  these  men,  and  to  be  vanquished.  The  king  resolved 
merely  to  remove  them  from  Stockholm,  but  to  situations, 
the  taking  of  which  could  not  be  considered  as  a  detriment. 
Master  Olof  was  nominated  to  be  provost  of  Upsala,  master 
Abraham  was  offered  the  professorship  in  that  city,  and 
when  he  declined,  it  was  proposed  to  make  him  pastor  of 
Oregrund.  But,  as  he  was  reluctant  to  supersede  the  then 
incumbent,  he  was  appointed  preacher  at  Oregrund,  with  the 
perquisites  and  pay  of  the  schoolmaster,  the  duties  of  which 
he  performed.  They  were  both  obliged,  before  leaving 
Stockholm,  which  they  did  in  July,  157G,  to  pledge  them 
selves  not  to  dissuade  those  who  were  willing  to  accept  the 
liturgy,  but  to  attend  solely  to  the  duties  of  their  vocation. 
The  archbishop  was  enjoined  to  watch  their  conduct. 

Of  the  two  chaplains,  the  one,  Petrus  Erici,  took  refuge 
with  duke  Charles ;  the  first  of  the  opposers  of  the  liturgy 
who  was  received  in  the  dukedom  of  Charles,  and  exercised 
his  office  there.  The  other,  in  respect  to  hi?  great  age,  was 
allowed  to  remain  at  Stockholm,  and  did  duty  for  a  time  in 
master  Abraham's  ?^hool,  in  which,  however,  instruction 


REFORMATION    IX    SWEDEN.  487 

was  chiefly  carried  on  by  Klosterlasse,  and  his  companion 
to  Sweden,  the  popish  priest  Florentius  Feyt,  until  the  lat 
ter,  in  the  year  following,  left  the  land. 

The  king  called  the  provost  Salomo  Birgeri  from  "Wes- 
teras  to  Stockholm,  to  manage  the  office  which  master  Olof 
had  left,  until  a  successor  could  be  procured.  Birgeri,  after 
manifesting  a  dislike,  at  first,  of  the  liturgy,  suffered  him 
self  to  be  persuaded  into  its  acceptance. 

A  more  general  dissatisfaction  with  the  liturgy  began  to 
spread  wherever  it  became  known ;  and  it  is  worthy  of 
remark,  that  as  its  chief  opposers  among  the  priests  and 
theologians  were  natives  of  Xorrland,  so,  too,  we  have 
evidence  that  the  discontent  among  the  people  was  greatest 
in  that  part  of  the  kingdom.  Many  in  Xoniand,  says  the 
king,  in  December,  1576,  had  put  a  wrong  construction 
upon  the  liturgy.  He  was,  therefore,  minded  to  have  a 
translation  made  of  its  preface  into  Swedish,  and  sent  to  the 
provosts  of  that  region. 

The  disturbances  began  to  be  more  active  in  the  city, 
which  was  considered  the  chief  seat  of  the  Swedish  church, 
and  the  second  capital  of  the  kingdom.  Master  Olof  had 
received  at  Upsala  an  honorable  office,  but  his  removal  was 
looked  upon  as  a  persecution  of  the  truth,  and  the  professors 
at  Upsala,  especially  Potrus  Jona1,  and  Olof  Luth,  partici 
pated  in  his  and  master  Abraham's  indignant  sense  of  their 
treatment.  Olof  Luth  was  of  a  quiet  and  peaceable  tem 
perament,  but  Petrus  was  more  impetuous,  was  a  man  of 
great  learning,  of  indexible  and  undaunted  resolution,  and 
deeply  attached  to  Lutheranism. 

Immediately  after  the  coming  of  master  Olof  from  Stock 
holm  to  Upsala,  the  archbishop  performed,  on  the  morning 
of  Christmas  day,  the  sen-ice  in  Latin,  according  to  the 
new  liturgy,  in  the  cathedral  of  Upsala.  Under  the  impulse 
of  his  first  astonishment  at  this  novelty,  Petrus  Jona?  preach 
ed  the  day  after,  or  during  Christmas-tide,  in  the  cathedral, 


488  HISTORY    OF  THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

a,  sermon  on  the  persecution  of  pious  teachers.  The  fourth 
day  after  Christmas,  the  provost,  master  Olof,  preached  on 
the  murder  of  the  babes  of  Bethlehem,  and  the  cruelty  of 
tyrants.  Perhaps  these  sermons  did  not  contain  an  express 
reference  to  the  character  of  the  times,  but  the  novelty  of 
this  mass,  which  was  disliked  as  popish,  and  the  persecution 
of  the  priests  of  Stockholm,  gave  them  a  meaning  which  was 
of  no  advantage  to  the  archbishop.  Provoked,  he  imme 
diately  summoned  both  these  men  before  him,  and  forbade 
them  the-  exercise  of  the  priesthood.  He  himself  preached 
on  the  following  Sunday,  justifying  himself  from  the  charge 
of  heresy,  and  inveighing  with  great  warmth  against  both 
the  preceding  preachers. 

As  soon  as  information  of  these  disturbances  reached  the 
ears  of  the  king,  Petrus  Jonns  and  Olof  Luth,  the  latter  of 
whom  declared  himself  against  the  liturgy,  were  summoned 
to  Stockholm,  where,  on  January  10,  1577,  they  made  their 
appearance.  On  the  following  day,  a  disputation  was  hole! 
between  them  and  Klosterlasse  and  Feyt,  on  the  regard  due 
to  the  Holy  Scriptures,  and  the  interpretation  of  them. 
On  the  14th  of  January  there  was  a  meeting  at  the  house 
of  count  Per  Brahe,  and  under  his  presidentship,  in  the 
presence  of  the  king's  secretary  and  court  preacher,  with 
many  others.  The  chief  subject  of  controversy  was  now 
on  the  sacrifice  of  the  mass.  Klosterlasse  drew  his  proofs 
from  the  testimony  of  the  church  and  the  writings  of  the 
fathers ;  but,  as  the  reporters  say,  went  no  farther  than  to 
maintain  that  the  mass  of  the  holy  communion  was  an 
offering  of  praise  and  thanksgiving.  Upon  the  contrary, 
when  questioned  as  to  his  own  meaning,  he  declared  that 
the  sacrifice  was  that  which  the  priest  with  his  hands  offered 
up  and  presented  before  God.  The  Upsalians,  who  ex 
cused  themselves  as  not  having  paid  sufficient  attention  to 
the  contents  of  the  liturgy,  requested  and  obtained  eight  days* 
indidgence,  in  order  to  present  their  opinions  in,  writing. 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  489 

Their  written  reflections,  disapproving  the  liturgy,  were 
delivered  in  upon  the  22d  of  January,  and  after  that  day 
Hiitless  negotiations  were  carried  on  with  them. 

The  next  fruit  of  the  disputation  at  the   house  of  Per 
JBrahe  was,  that  the  provost,  Salorno  Birgeri,  newly  called 
I  to  serve  in  Stockholm,  went  over  to  the  side  of  the  opposers 
[  of  the  liturgy.     It  had  anew  stirred  up  controversies   and 
doubts,   and   he  accused   himself  of  dissimulation,   which 
never  gave  peace  to  his  soul,  after  he  declared  himself  for 
the  liturgy.     When,  soon  after,  he  'performed  the  liturgic 
mass  in  church,  he  fancied,  in  a  vision,  that  he  saw  a  burn 
ing  flame   on  the  altar,  and  in  the  flame  many  whom  he 
knew  as  dissemblers.      Struck  with  terror,  he  was  compelled 
to  break  off  the  service,  went  weeping  home  to  the  house 
of  his  brother-in-law,  where  he  abode,  and  sent  a  message 
to  the  king  with  a  renunciation  of  his  office.* 

The  king  had  determined  to  call  together  the  bishops 
and  clergy  for  a  public  recognition  of  the  liturgy.  The 
priests  of  Stockholm  had  not  appealed  to  a  church  council. 
But  meanwhile,  before  this  was  done,  the  king  negotiated 
with  the  clergy  and  people  by  persons  sent  into  various 
parts  of  the  land,  probably  to  prepare  business  for  the 
approaching  diet,  in  addition  to  what  was  to  be  brought 
before  the  church  council.  With  bishop  Sven  of  Skara, 
and  the  clergy  of  his  diocese,  Erik  Gyllenstjerna  negotiated, 
and  they  promised  to  accept  the  liturgy.  Agents  were  sent 
to  Hclsingland  and  Dalecarlia,  and  the  archbishop,  and 
bishop  Erasmus,  were  to  attend  the  fair  at  Enkoping.  The 
archbishop  was  directed  to  treat  not  only  with  the  senators 
of  the  kingdom,  but  with  the  people,  at  the  fair  of  Upsala. 
At  the  same  time  the  provost  Olof  was  banished  from 

*  On  a  certain  occasion,  after  he  was  won  to  the  liturgy,  he  stepped 
forward  to  the  altar,  when  the  bishop  sent  him  the  liturgy  with  a  request 
that  he  would  follow  it  in  the  service.  The  provost  took  the  book,  but 
immediately  cast  it  from  him,  in  the  sight  of  the  congregation,  down  into 
the  body  of  the  church. 

21* 


190  HISTORY    OF    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

Upsala  to  a  property  lie  had  on  the  coast,  and  the  preacher 
at  Oregrund,  master  Abraham,  was  put  in  ward  at  Rydbo- 
holm,  an  estate  of  Per  Brahe. 

There  came  to  the  king,  or,  perhaps,  were  procured  by 
these  agents,  written  complaints  from  city  and  country  con 
gregations  respecting  the  immoral  lives  of  their  priests,  and 
written  petitions  for  a  change  in  divine  service  and  church 
customs.  If  not  now  first  presented,  a  use  was  now  made 
of  them.  At  the  time  for  opening  the  council,  Olof  and 
Abraham  were  recalled  to  Stockholm.  But  when  they  and 
the  three  others  persisted  in  their  refusal  to  acknowledge 
the  liturgy,  they  were  all  put  under  ward,  Olof,  Abraham, 
and  Salomo,  at  the  king's  farm  in  Sodertorn,  the  Upsalians 
at  Svartsjo. 

The  estates  were,  on  February  8th,  called  together.  The 
king  opened  the  diet  three  days  after.  After  speaking  of 
the  condition  of  the  kingdom  and  the  prospects  of  peace  and 
quiet,  he  turned  to  the  affairs  of  the  church.  He  drew  a 
dark  picture  of  its  condition,  or  rather  of  that  of  the  clergy ; 
a  picture  which  awakens  a  double  interest,  if  compared  with 
that  which  fifty  years  earlier  his  father  gave  of  the  same 
subject.  John  complained  that  the  priests  neither  in  know 
ledge  nor  life  rightly  corresponded  to  their  holy  vocation. 
They  allowed  the  churches  to  tumble  down,  and  especially 
he  complained  that  they  treated  the  Lord's  Supper  in  an 
unworthy  manner,  attending  it  with  unwashed  hands,  in 
dirty  clothes,  and  often  in  riding -slippers  and  spurs.  Not 
seldom  they  administered  the  holy  repast  from  trenchers 
and  from  cups  of  tin  or  clay,  while  to  entertain  guests  in 
their  own  houses  they  used  silver  goblets.  One  or  another 
introduced  new  practices  according  to  his  own  whim.  The 
king,  therefore,  alike  from  his  own  impulse,  as  from  the 
written  petitions  of  many  of  his  subjects,  and  with  the  aid 
of  the  archbishop  and  bishop  of  Westeras,  had  drawn  up  an 
order  for  divine  service  and  for  the  worthy  administration 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  491 

of  the  sacrament,  in  order  that  priests  might  guide  their 
hearers  to  the  true  fruits  of  godliness.  They  ought  not  to 
give  credit  to  the  false  report  which  was  circulated,  that  the 
king  wished  to  introduce  heresy  and  unsound  doctrine, 
wished  to  restore  divine  service  in  Latin,  wished  to  separate 
priests  from  their  wives,  and  that  he  had  invited  into  the 
kingdom  monks  by  thousands. 

The  king  then  asked  the  estates  if  they  would  accept  the 
published  liturgy.  They  who  gave  an  answer,  answered 
yes. 

It  seems  the  clergy  were  not  present  on  this  occasion. 
But,  however  that  was,  their  consent  was  considered  as  not 
having  been  given  with  the  other  estates.  On  the  follow 
ing  day  was  opened  the  church  council,  if  one  may  call  it 
so,  under  the  king's  own  presidency.  Pie  ordered  the  votes 
to  be  immediately  collected.  Those  in  favor  of  the  liturgy 
were  to  take  the  right  hand,  the  others  the  left.  On  the 
right  hand  they  gathered  about  the  archbishop.  On  the 
left,  the  less  number  joined  bishop  Martinus  Gestricius  of 
Linkoping,  who  now  took  the  leadership  of  those  opposed 
to  the  liturgy. 

The  king  and  Klosterlasse  now  endeavored  to  persuade 
the  dissentients.  The  liturgy  was  surely  not  contrary  to 
God's  word,  and  corresponded  with  the  usages  of  the  prim 
itive  church,  excited  the  mind  to  piety,  and  promoted  out 
ward  decency  in  divine  worship.  The  archbishop,  to  whom, 
as  head  of  the  church,  the  rest  owed  obedience,  was  in  favor 
of  it.  It  was  acknowledged  by  the  other  bishops,  and  was 
used  in  many  places.  The  senators  of  the  kingdom  and 
estates  had  also,  on  their  part,  accepted  it. 

The  king  caused  the  above-mentioned  written  complaints 
and  petitions  to  be  read,  and  said  that  the  peasants  threat 
ened  that  they  would  not  pay  tithes  to  their  priests,  if  the 
latter  did  not  accept  the  liturgy.  For  his  own  part,  he 
would  abide  by  it,  and  he  who,  by  his  opposition,  awaked 


492  HISTORY  OF  THE  ECCLESIASTICAL 

dissatisfaction  and  disturbance  in  the  laud,  should  answer 
for  the  offence  before  him  and  the  council  of  the  kingdom. 

A  disputation  was  carried  on  between  the  archbishop 
and  bishop  Marten,  in  presence  of  the  king,  who  himself 
went  into  an  explanation  of  the  meaning  and  design  of  the 
liturgy.  When  the  day  appointed  for  a  meeting  of  the 
clergy  in  the  castle  of  Stockholm  had  arrived,  bishop  Marten 
stood  alone.  Those  who  shared  his  opinions  had  deserted 
him.  The  day  passed  in  fruitless  negotiations. 

Bishop  Marten  was  a  man  whose  reputation  for  learning 
and  an  imcorrupted  mind  gave  his  judgment  the  greatest 
weight.  His  observations  upon  the  liturgy  made  a  deep 
impression  upon  the  assembly,  although  during  the  disputa 
tion  there  was  none  who  ventured  to  stand  up  by  his  side. 
All,  or  many,  admitted  that  he  was  right.  In  the  confir 
mation,  therefore,  of  the  liturgy  which  was  subscribed,  a 
declaration  was  added,  which  referred  io  the  very  observa 
tions  he  had  presented. 

The  explanation  which  the  king  gave  of  the  liturgy  was 
found  to  have  a  soothing  effect,  and  was  taken  doAvn  in 
writing  by  the  archbishop,  after  which,  translated  into 
Swedish,  in  a  fuller  form,  it  was.  February  16,  1577,  ac 
cepted  and  subscribed.  The  liturgy  composed  by  the  arch 
bishop,  it  says,  had  been  critically  examined,  and  that 
liturgy,  according  to  the  declaration  now  made  and  soon  to  fol 
low,  being  found  to  be  in  agreement  with  God's  word  and 
the  Holy  Scripture,  promotive  of  godliness  and  reverence 
for  the  Lord's  Supper,  was  welcomed  and  accepted.  "  Be 
it,  however,  understood,  that  it  must  be  rightly  and  not 
wrongly  sensed  and  interpreted."  There  were  also  appended 
observations  upon  the  cloths  for  the  service  of  the  mass, 
upon  the  accompanying  prayers  and  supplications  before 
and  after  the  consecration  of  the  sacrament,  upon  the  true 
meaning  of  consecration,  and  upon  the  expression  present 
ing  Grd?s  Son  and  his  merits.  It  was  also  added,  that  they 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  493 

coincided  with  the  doctrine  which  the  "  catholic  church " 
had  always  from  the  apostles'  time  embraced,  shunning  the 
rocks  alike  of  superstition  and  irreverence.  They,  there 
fore,  humbly  prayed  that  all,  "both  in  and  out  of  the 
kingdom,"  would  interpret  their  meaning  for  the  best. 
They  had,  according  to  the  king's  pleasure,  and  that  of  the 
council  of  the  kingdom,  of  the  nobles,  burghers,  and  peasants, 
consented  and  resolved  to  hold  fast  to,  introduce,  and  after 
ward  follow,  the  ceremonies  of  this  order  of  public  worship. 
The  resolution  was  subscribed  by  the  bishops  and  ninety- 
six  priests. 

There  is  no  need  to  weigh  in  the  balance  of  a  rigid 
criticism  the  expressions  used  by  the  clergy  in  their  reso 
lutions  of  February  16,  1577,  in  order  to  discover  that 
men  do  not  speak  thus,  who  with  a  free  conviction  pledge 
themselves  to  that  to  which  they  subscribed  their  names, 
and  with  such  terms  of  consent,  are  not  contented  where 
their  hearts  approve.  It  was  one  of  those  thousand  cases 
recorded  in  history,  of  an  attempt  at  adjustment,  when 
parties  who  are  really  opposed  to  each  other  meet  in  a 
territory  which  unwise  mediators  call  that  of  peace  and 
moderation,  but  which  is  for  both  parties,  or  one  of  them, 
a  territory  of  lying  and  dissimulation.  They  meet  for  an 
hour,  but  are  soon  sundered,  with  increased  bitterness,  still 
farther  from  each  other. 

It  required  the  capricious  blindness  of  king  John  to 
believe,  that  he  could  build  the  concord  of  the  church  on 
this  sandy  foundation.  But  he  foresaw  that  disturbances 
would  be  excited  by  the  proposed  changes.  As  just  at  this 
period  he  allowed  his  unhappy  brother  Erik  to  suffer,  on 
February  26,  the  violent  death  to  which  he  had  been  for 
some  time  adjudged,  it  is  not  improbable  that  the  design 
of  preventing  dissatisfaction  with  the  changes  in  the  church 
from  being  used  as  a  pretext  for  political  plots,  may  have 
contributed  to  this  sad  event. 


494  HISTORY    OP    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

Negotiations  in  the  council  proceeded  till  almost  the  close 
of  the  month,  partly  to  induce  the  opponents  to  give  way, 
or  the  hesitating  to  take  a  firm  position,  partly  by  con 
ferences  and  explanations  to  influence  the  clergy  in  favor 
of  the  principles  which  it  was  desired  should  be  ingrafted 
into  the  church. 

As  soon  as  the  liturgy  was  accepted,  the  prisoners  that 
were  in  ward  at  Svartsjo  and  Ilaringc,  were  restored  to 
Stockholm,  in  the  hope  that  the  explanations  given  and  the 
example  of  numbers  might  induce  them  to  yield.  But  the 
efforts  of  the  archbishop  and  even  the  king  proved  fruitless. 
Both  the  professors  of  Upsala  obtained  leave  to  return  home, 
but  it  seems  that  at  first  they  were  forbidden  to  lecture. 
Master  Abraham  was  transferred  to  the  pastorship  of  Saltvik 
in  Aland,  where  it  was  believed  he  would  be  prevented 
from  exerting  any  influence  upon  the  clergy  and  theologians. 
Master  Olof  was  permitted  to  settle  on  his  estate  at  Roslagen, 
with  the  grant  of  a  yearly  stipend.  Master  Salomo  was 
for  some  time  kept  prisoner  at  Wentholmen,  but  was  subse 
quently  released  and  allowed  to  return  to  Westeras,  where, 
in  1585,  he  met  the  summons  of  death. 

With  what  other  business  the  council  was  occupied,  ap 
pears  from  the  questions  which  the  king,  on  the  23d  of  Feb 
ruary,  laid  before  the  bishops,  respecting  the  Holy  Scriptures, 
the  church's  authority,  the  value  of  her  judgment  in  the  in 
terpretation  of  Scripture,  and  the  testimony  of  the  catholic 
church  and  the  fathers.  Their  answers  may  be  conjectured 
from  what  has  been  already  narrated.  They  modified  and 
explained,  with  the  usual  caution,  that  what  they  said  was 
not  to  be  received  in  a  wrong  sense.  A  more  candid  and 
explicit  answer  was  given  from  his  prison,  by  provost  Salo 
mo  Bergcri.  He  notices  the  mistrust  which  any  constraint 
must  create  against  the  liturgy ;  refers  to  the  oft-repeated 
complaint  that  there  was  a  design  to  coerce  priests  by  means 
of  the  obedient  3  claimed  for  bishops,  and  avows  that  he 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  495 

acknowledged  no  other  spiritual  prince  in  the  congregation 
of  Christ,  who  had  a  right  to  rule  our  faith,  than  Jesus 
Christ  alone. 

The  bishops  left  Stockholm  on  the  27th  of  February, 
each  for  his  own  diocese,  to  promote,  or  to  waive  compli 
ance  with  the  new  arrangements.  The  archbishop  endeav 
ored,  in  his  diocese  of  Upsala,  to  prevail  on  the  clergy  to 
introduce  the  liturgy.  The  priests,  however,  were  slow  in 
obeying  his  command.  He,  therefore,  on  the  20th  of  April, 
issued  a  cogent  letter,  in  which  he  complains  that  a  large 
number  of  them  avoided  the  use  of  the  liturgy,  although  its 
difference  from  the  former  order  of  the  mass  was  satisfac 
torily  explained.  He  would  not  tolerate  disobedience  in 
matters  of  religion.  The  pastor,  therefore,  who  would  not, 
before  the  feast  of  St.  Erik,  the  18th  of  May,  accept  the  lit 
urgy,  must  present  himself  at  Upsala,  and  resign  his  benefice. 

Even  this  vigorous  proceeding  could  not  fully  answer  his 
purpose.  At  a  meeting  of  the  clergy,  in  Upsala,  in  July,  the 
subject  of  the  liturgy  was  again  canvassed,  and  the  option  of 
being  deposed,  or  of  acceptance,  was  laid  before  them  anew. 
Two  of  those  present,  stood  up,  and  declared  that  they  could 
not,  against  their  conscience,  acquiesce  in  this  order  of  the 
mass.  They  were  immediately  deprived  of  their  benefices, 
which  were  at  once  bestowed  upon  others.  The  peaceable 
Olof  Luth,  who  respectfully  begged  the  archbishop  to  act 
with  more  lenity,  was  ejected  from  the  meeting. 

The  bishop  of  the  diocese  of  Skara  was,  together  with  his 
clergy,  in  favor  of  the  liturgy.  The  bishop  of  Westerns  did 
not  actually  oppose  it,  although  his  zeal  for  the  changes 
seems  to  have  come  to  a  sudden  stop.  Of  what  was  done 
for  the  liturgy  in  Finland,  which  contained  the  diocese  of 
Abo,  we  have  no  information.  In  the  diocese  of  Wexio,  of 
which  its  former  superintendent,  Andreas  Bjornram,  was,  in 
1577,  appointed  bishop,  and  whose  priests  were  not  sum 
moned  to  the  council,  because  the  king  wished  to  spare  the 


496  HISTORY    OF    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

pockets  of  those  who  lived  so  remote,  the  liturgy  was,  at  the 
king's  command,  made  public,  and  by  the  clergy  was  ac 
cepted. 

Only  in  the  dioceses  of  Linkoping  and  Strangness,  the 
cause  encountered  great  difficulties,  especially  on  the  part 
of  the  pastors  of  the  parishes.  Bishop  Marten,  after  his 
return  home,  did  nothing  to  promote  the  acceptance  of  the 
liturgy,  but  with  his  chapter  set  forth  a  manifesto,  in  which 
was  to  be  found  no  command  or  obligation  for  its  diffusion. 
This  tergiversation  was  reported  to  the  king  by  Hogensk 
Bjelke,  the  prefect  of  Eastgothland,  to  whom  the  bishop 
assigns  as  a  reason,  that  he  could  not  persuade  the  clergy  to 
accept  the  liturgy  before  the  explanation  came  out,  which 
the  archbishop  had  undertaken  to  publish.  How  far  this 
was  justified  by  the  convocation  which,  on  the  3d  of  May, 
was  held  at  Linkoping,  is  unknown  to  us.  The  bishop 
seems  to  have  thus,  in  a  considerable  degree,  declined  com 
pliance  with  the  requirements  of  the  king ;  either  because 
he  could  not  persuade  himself  of  the  compatibility  of  the 
liturgy  with  protestant  truth,  or  as  his  enemies  supposed, 
consideration  for  his  wife  and  ten  children  quieted  the  claims 
of  conscience. 

During  tlfe  session  of  the  council  of  Stockholm,  bishop 
Nils,  of  StrangnesSj  who  was  there  present,  sent  a  message 
to  his  prince,  duke  Charles,  to  inquire  what  he  thought  of 
the  new  mass  service.  The  duke  answered,  that  he  wist 
not  of  any  other  church  service  or  mass  service  than  that 
which  had  been  a  long  time  used  in  the  land,  and  that  he 
could  not  be  "  desirous  of  accepting  a  new  one,  under  what 
soever  fair  pretext  offered,  until  it  had  been  reasonably 
proved  that  the  old  was  wrong,  and  unjustifiably  adopted." 
He  therefore  bid  the  bishop  to  take  heed,  and  at  the  same 
time  sending  a  copy  of  it,  reminded  him  of  the  resolution 
passed  by  the  clergy  of  the  dukedom.  The  IGth  of  Febru 
ary  is  the  date  of  the  duke's  letter,  on  the  same  day  the  lit- 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  497 

urgy  was  subscribed  by  bishop  Nils,  but  with  a  reserve  very 
wide  of  his  uncertain  pledge. 

Within  the  dukedom,  nothing  was  done  toward  the  recog 
nition  of  the  liturgy.  The  attitude,  however,,  of  this  dio 
cese,  was  less  offensive  than  defensive,  as  long  as  bishop 
Nils  was  its  leader. 

Duke  Charles  was  as  immovable  in  his  determination  as 
king  John  in  his,  and  when,  in  August,  1577,  he  wan  about 
to  undertake  a  foreign  journey,  he  advised  his  still  unmar 
ried  sister,  Elizabeth,  to  hold  fast  to  the  doctrine  which  in 
their  fathers  time  had  been  acknowledged.  During  this 
journey,  he  reminded  the  bishop,  more  than  once,  not  to 
allow  any  change  to  be  introduced  into  divine  service  while 
he  was  absent.  He  recalled  the  students  belonging  to  the 
diocese  of  Striingness,  from  Upsala,  as  they  could  "  there,'* 
he  said,  "  gain  no  further  improvement."  He  would  place 
them  as  assistants  in  the  schools  of  the  diocese  until  he 
could,  the  following  spring,  find  them  an  opportunity  for 
pursuing  their  studies  in  foreign  institutions  of  learning. 
Duke  Charles  stood  forth  as  the  prop  of  the  opposers  of  the 
liturgy,  and  began,  as  before  remarked,  to  open,  in  1576,  a 
refuge  within  the  dukedom  for  those  priests  and  teachers 
who  had  lost  their  places.  This,  however,  was"  done  with 
great  caution,  as  the  king's  loudly  expressed  discontent  with 
his  brother's  measures,  had  not  yet  reached  that  brother's 
ears. 

In  the  measures  and  steps  taken,  the  king  was  supported 
by  many  of  the  council  of  the  kingdom,  and  by  his  secre 
taries.  Among  his  supporters,  the  principal  names  in  the 
controversies  of  the  church  were  those  of  John  Henriksson, 
Ilenrik  Mattson  Huggut,  and  Olof  Sverkersson  Elfkarl,  of 
whom  the  last  named,  at  least,  had  studied  at  Rostock.  In 
the  execution  of  their  master's  pleasure  these  men  did  not 
always  ask  themselves  what  a  king's  dignity  and  clemency 
required.  The  king  labored  for  the  spread  of  the  liturgy, 


498  HISTORY    OP    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

and  the  maintenance  of  church  discipline,  and  often  himself 
drew  up  rules  for  the  ecclesiastical  punishments  to  be  in 
flicted  on  offenders,  and  for  the  external  sanctity  and  dignity 
of  divine  worship. 

Much  attention  began  to  be  paid,  in  1577,  after  the  lit 
urgy  had  been  accepted,  to  the  books  coming  from  abroad ; 
a  subject  to  which  reference  had  been  made  in  the  ordinan- 
tia.  The  king's  officers,  in  all  the  maritime  towns,  were 
notified  that  as  errors  were  here  spread,  especially  from 
Germany,  imported  books  were  not  to  be  sold  until  a  cata 
logue  of  them  was  sent  to  the  king,  who  would,  with  the 
bishops,  decide  whether  they  might  be  sold  or  not.  When 
a  catalogue  from  Eastgothland  contained  the  names  of  some 
unknown  books,  the  king  ordered  that  the  books  should  be 
sent  to  Stockholm  ;  and  when  a  bookseller  of  Stockholm 
imported  not  the  books  for  which  he  had  got  an  order,  but 
others  injurious  to  God,  and  not  conformable  "  to  the 
writings  of  the  fathers  of  holy  church,"  the  king  doomed 
him  to  be  deprived  of  the  whole  stock. 

Most  of  the  bishops  had  declared  in  favor  of  the  liturgy ; 
but  their  zeal  was  not  ardent  for  its  introduction,  as  they 
either  winked  at  disobedience,  or  allowed  the  priests  to  use 
merely  a  part  of  the  liturgy,  with  an  alteration  of  the  pas 
sages  which  the  performer  of  the  service  considered  most 
scandalous.  Thus  it  cannot  be  said  to  have  been  at  any 
time  generally  and  fully  in  use. 

The  chief  assistant  of  the  king  in  his  plans,  though  with 
wider  aims,  was  Klosterlasse,  whose  mask  began  to  fall  off 
quite  rapidly,  until  at  length  he  stood  forth  an  uncovered 
Jesuit  and  papist.  The  leaning  which  the  king  showed  to 
the  side  of  Home,  allowed  this  man  to  keep  his  disguise,  and 
venture  a  long  time.  On  the  6th  of  October,  1577,  being 
the  eighteenth  Sunday  after  Trinity,  he  preached  in  the 
cloister  church  of  the  grey  monk's  holm,  on  the  gospel  for 
the  day.  Among  the  Pharisees,  he  counted  those  who  be- 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  499 

lieve  themselves  to  have  the  Holy  Ghost  more  than  others, 
and  in  this  persuasion  interpret  Scripture,  such  us  Melanc- 
thoii,  Luther,  Brentius,  and  others  of  a  kindred  faith.  Soon 
after,  he  was  present  at  Upsala,  when  the  king  deposited  the 
bones  of  St.  Erik  in  the  silver  chest  in  which  they  are  still 
preserved,  and  allowed  it  to  be  borne  from  the  castle  of  Up- 
ealu  to  the  cathedral,  by  Roman  priests,  and  placed  in  its 
present  position  on  the  high  altar.  On  this  occasion,  being 
All  Saints'  day,  Klosterlasse  preached  on  the  invocation  of 
the  saints  and  prayers  to  them,  and  gave  great  offence  to  his 
hearers.  Petrus  Jona>,  Olof  Luth,  Henrik  Gadolenus,  pas 
tor  Joachim,  and  the  schoolmaster  at  Upsala,  Olaus  Andrea?, 
were  commanded  by  the  king  to  express  in  writing  their 
opinions  of  this  sermon.  Ihey,  therefore,  drew  up  and 
submitted  a  paper  against  the  invocation  of  saints,  which 
inflamed  the  king's  wrath  against  these  men,  of  whom  the 
first  named  was  suspended  from  the  exercise  of  his  office, 
and  lost  his  benefice. 

The  coming  of  the  Jesuit  Possevin  to  Stockholm,  at  the 
close  of  1577,  contributed  to  increase  the  discontent,  so  that 
the  king  was  induced,  the  following  year,  publicly  to  con 
tradict  the  reports  spread  through  th«  land  respecting  im 
puted  changes  of  doctrine.  The  king  justifies  himself,  by 
the  consent  of  the  bishops  and  priests  to  the  changes  that 
had  been  made.  They  had,  without  constraint,  acquiesced 
in  these  changes,  and  promised  to  abide  by  them.  This 
was  at  a  time  when  the  king  was  most  zealously  pressed  by 
the  missionaries  of  Rome,  and  furnishes  a  remarkable  com 
parison  with  the  position  of  his  father  when  he  was  pressed 
by  the  friends  of  the  Reformation. 

Klosterlasse  and  Possevin  hastened  the  breach  by  the  im 
prudence  with  which  they  acted.  The  archbishop.  Lauren- 
tius  Petri,  who,  even  before  the  council  of  Stockholm,  was 
charged  with  having  said  that  the  new  mass  service  was 
forced  upon  him,  began  to  be  concerned  for  the  consequences 
of  his  own  conceptions,  which  brought  him  into  a,  nearer 


500  HISTORY    OP    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

connection  with  and  dependence  on  the  papists  than  he 
himself  either  wished  or  expected.  He  refused,  even  before 
the  king  himself,  to  promote  any  further  the  liturgical  cause, 
and  declared  that  it  could  not  proceed  without  danger  of 
bloodshed.  An  occurrence  which  created  general  scandal, 
induced  him.  afterward  altogether  to  break  with  Klosterlasse, 
and  more  closely  to  examine  into  his  own  position  in  the 
controversies  of  the  church.  The  result  of  his  inquiry  was 
an  explanation  of  the  principles  of  the  ordinantia  and 
liturgy,  which,  in  1578,  he  published  to  the  world.  In  this 
production  he  professes  his  conviction  of  the  great  value 
of  the  writings  of  the  fathers,  as  the  oldest  witnesses  of  the 
church,  and  of  their  importance  in  determining  the  faith 
of  the  church,  but  at  the  same  time  he  finds  that  the  uncer 
tainty  as  to  the  genuineness  of  these  writings,  and  the 
contradictions  contained  in  them,  occasion  great  difficulties 
in  their  use. 

It  is  not  improbable  that  the  intricate  and  disagreeable 
position  in  which  he  was  placed  by  the  increasing  hatred 
of  the  anti-liturgical  party,  and  by  his  dependence  on  the 
king,  who  seems  still  more  to  have  attached  himself  to  the 
Jesuits,  became  humiliating  to  the  archbishop.  His  bodily 
health  became  affected  by  the  agitation  of  his  mind,  and  on 
February  12,  1579,  he  bade  adieu  to  the  cares  of  earth. 
He  left  the  affairs  of  the  church  in  the  greatest  confusion, 
and  it  was  not  permitted  him  to  see  the  feeble  light  which 
shone  through  the  more  decided  separation  of  the  liturgic 
cause  from  that  of  the  lloman  church  and  Jesuitism.  Yet 
was  he  spared  from  being  a  witness,  perhaps  a  partaker, 
of  the  persecution  which  overtook  the  opposers  of  the 
liturgy,  perhaps  from  being  necessitated  openly  to  appear 
against  the  cause  he  had  himself  promoted. 

The  liturgic  movement  was  at  first  intimately  connected 
with  the  attempt  of  the  Roman  church  to  use  it  for  its  own 
advantage.  This  scene  of  the  same  drama  and  of  the  same 
period  we  are  now  to  present. 


REFORMATION   TN    SWEDEN.  501 


CHAPTER     V. 

lOME'S  ATTEMPT   TO   KECOVER   THE   SWEDISH  CHtJRCII,  FROM  TIU3 
YEAR  1574  TO  1580 

THE  correspondence  •which  it  chanced  to  cardinal  Hosius 
;o  open  with  queen  Catharine,  and  thereby  with  king  John 
[II.,  led  to  a  determination  to  send  a  Jesuit  to  Sweden  to 
iscertain  if  the  king  might  be  reclaimed  to  the  Roman 
•hurch,  to  which  it  was  believed  he  was  well-disposed, 
rhe  Jesuit,  Stanislaus  Warsewitz,  rector  of  the  Jesuit  col- 
ege,  which,  in  1569,  had  been  founded  at  Wilna,  was  con- 
ddered  by  Hosius  the  most  suitable  man  for  this  purpose, 
md  received,  September  1,  1573,  the  pope's  order  to  turn 
lis  attention  to  Sweden.  His  journey  was  delayed  till  the 
bllowing  summer.  Hosius  had  previously  given  notice  of 
lis  coming.  Concealing  that  he  was  a  Jesuit,  he  merely 
mnounced  himself  as  a  Roman  priest,  and  made  his  appear- 
ince  in  Stockholm  as  ambassador  from  queen  Catharine's 
dster,  the  princess  Anna,  the  wife  of  king  Stephen  Bathori. 

The  avowed  errand  of  the  Jesuit  was  to  negotiate  re 
specting  the  maternal  inheritance  of  the  princesses  of  the 
mouse  of  Jagellon.  Queen  Catharine,  in  order  that  his 
presence  might  attract  as  little  notice  as  possible,  had  pro 
vided  him  a  residence  in  one  of  the  royal  castles.  The 
king,  when  he  understood  that  Warsewitz  was  a  Jesuit, 
was  at  first  displeased  that  such  a  man  had  been  sent  him, 
and  apprehended  trouble  from  the  hatred  which  the  reputed 
character  of  this  order  had  already  awakened  in  Sweden 


502 


HISTORY    OF   THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 


against  its  members,  before  the  arrival  here  of  any  of  them. 
The  king  himself  assured  Warsewitz  he  was  the  first  Jesuit 
he  ever  saw.  With  king  John,  whose  fears  made  him  im 
patiently  to  wish  for  the  Jesuit's  speedy  departure,  Warse 
witz  had  four  conferences.  In  these,  he  succeeded  in  re 
moving  John's  repugnance  to  the  members  of  his  order, 
and  opened  the  door  to  a  consideration  at  least  of  a  return 
of  the  Swedish  church  to  a  union  with  the  Roman. 

John  was  not  disinclined  to  acknowledge  the  pope  as 
being  St.  Peter's  successor,  to  be  primate  of  the  church, 
but  required  that  his  authority  should  be  confined  within 
certain  limits,  so  that  if  the  pope  should  become  an  enemy 
of  the  gospel,  he  might  be  deposed.  He  was  offended  when 
Warsewitz  remarked,  that  the  Swedish  bishops  had  no 
power  to  consecrate  the  sacrament,  after  the  Reformation 
had  broken  their  succession  from  the  apostles,  and  their 
unity  with  the  apostolic  church.  We  have  already  ob 
served  how  much  this  remark  wrought  upon  the  king,  and 
induced  him  to  wish  Fecht  consecrated  a  bishop  at  Rome. 

The  king  disapproved  the  worship  of  relics,  but  thought 
prayers  for  the  dead  allowable,  and  declared  that  he  him 
self  daily  prayed  for  his  father's  soul.  When,  at  last, 
Warsewitz  asked  what  hope  he  could  give  the  pope  of  the 
king's  and  the  kingdom's  return  to  the  obedience  of  the 
Roman  chair,  the  king  gave  him  the  decisive  answer,  that 
no  union  could  be  contemplated,  as  long  as  the  pope  refused 
to  allow  the  peoples'  participation  of  both  the  bread  and 
wine  in  the  eucharist,  and  the  marriage  of  the  clergy.  The 
king  also  wished  that  permission  should  be  conceded  to  hold 
divine  service  in  the  Swedish  language.  Meanwhile  he 
was  desirous  of  restoring  the  former  usages  and  regulations 
of  the  church,  a  resolution  probably  not  now  first  formed, 
but  one  of  which  the  ordinantia  of  1575,  and  the  liturgy 
of  1576,  were  the  fruits.  After  a  stay  of  little  more  than 
forty  days  in  Stockholm,  Warsewitz  returned,  having  secured 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  503 

for  his  causo  the  good  will  of  some  prominent  men,  and 
received  from  queen  Catharine  the  precious  gift  of  St. 
Bridget's  arm. 

All  the  king's  movements  were  watched  at  Rome  with 
jreat  attention,  and  after  the  ordinantia  was  published,  car- 
linal  Hosius  wrote  him  a  letter,  which,  although  with  a 
vary  use  of  terms,  plainly  presents  its  author's  principles. 
Every  day  information  mare  and  more  gladdening  came  to 
Rome  of  the  measures  the  king  was  adopting  to  restore 
;he  old  faith  and  the  former  customs  and  usages.  God  was 
lianked  that  the  king  was  reclaimed  to  the  obedience  of 
Christ,  but  thereby  was  meant  not  merely  of  Christ  the 
icad,  but  of  the  church  his  body.  The  king  ought  not  to 
relieve  himself  wiser  than  the  fathers,  that  is  to  say,  the 
athers  assembled  in  council  to  declare  the  meaning  of  Holy 
Scripture.  The  king  was  said  to  doubt  if  the  use  of  the 
jup  in  the  Lord's  Supper  was  rightly  forbidden  to  laymen. 
Fhe  church  had  for  one  hundred  and  fifty  years,  at  the 
councils  of  Constance,  Basle,  Rome,  and  Trent,  settled  the 
juestion.  The  divisions  among  the  protestants  of  Germany 
showed  how  the  heretics  lacerated  Christ.  Rome  was  the 
centre  of  unity.  The  king  was  purposed,  as  the  cardinal 
loped,  to  acknowledge  one  shepherd  of  the  church,  as  the 
loly  fathers  and  his  own  forefathers  had  done.  He  ought, 
.herefore,  to  send  some  of  his  court  to  certify  his  affection, 
md  on  his  own  part  to  promise  that  he  would  be  the 
church's  leal  son.  Pope  Gregory  VII.  had  manifested 
£reat  care  of  this  matter,  when  Sweden  was  newly  converted 
;o  Christianity,  as  appears  from  his  letters  to  the  kings  of 
;he  Swedes  and  Goths,  of  which  letters  a  copy  was  sent  to 
dng  John.  The  cardinal  advises  him  to  send  clerks  to 
Rome,  to  be  there  trained  in  Christian  faith  and  culture. 
GJregory  XIII.  would  watch  over  these  lands,  whose  condi 
tion  seemed  to  be  now  better  than  then.  If,  therefore,  the 
king  would  send  some  young  men  to  Rome,  to  be  trained 


504  HISTORY    OS1   THK    ECCLESIASTICAL 

in  the  sciences,  in  morals,  and  in  piety,  tlie  pope  would 
cheerfully  defray  the  expenses,  until  they  returned  to  their 
fatherland.  The  king  ought  without  delay,  by  sending  an 
ambassador  to  Rome,  to  meet  the  affectionate  advances  of 
the  pope,  so  full  of  love. 

A  report  had  gone  abroad  that  count  Per  Brahe  materially 
seconded  the  king  in  carrying  out  his  plans.  The  cardinal, 
therefore,  began  to  spin  around  that  nobleman  the  same  net 
in  which  he  endeavored  to  imprison  John  III.  On  the 
same  day  with  the  above-named  letter  to  the  king,  he  wrote 
to  Brahe,  expressing  joy  at  having  heard  that  he  was  not 
far  from  the  kingdom  of  God.  If  the  king's  wholesome 
measures  were  prompted  by  him,  he  deserved  great  praise. 
But  there  could  be  no  sheepfold  where  there  was  no  recog 
nition  of  the  shepherd.  lie  ought,  therefore,  to  induce  the 
king  to  recognize  this  shepherd,  and  would,  if  he  succeeded, 
render  his  name  deathless,  and  win  everlasting  honor  in  the 
kingdom  of  heaven. 

These  letters  were  written  January  8th,  1576.  Not  long 
after,  Hosius  appears  to  have  had  the  liturgy  sent  him,  and 
was  little  satisfied  in  seeing  that  the  king  obstinately  stuck 
at  the  same  point.  It  rejoiced  him,  he  wrote  to  Ilcrbst,  on 
the  8th  of  July,  that  Herbst  strove  by  degrees  to  bring  the 
king  into  a  resolve  for  the  re-establishment  of  the  former 
church  customs.  "  But  to  what  purpose  would  be  this  ser 
vice,  as  long  as  there  was  no  acknowledgment  of  a  shepherd, 
or  of  a  sheepfold  ?  Who  can  approve  of  the  king's  conducting 
himself  as  if  he  were  the  pope,  and  governing  the  congre 
gations  after  his  own  discretion  ?  The  bishops  of  Sweden 
themselves  did  not  approve  of  this.  *  *  *  To  this  purpose 
the  words  of  St.  Ambrose  should  be  impressed  on  the  mind 
of  the  king,  'Beware  cf  believing  that  you  have  an  imperial 
right  over  what  belongs  to  God.  *  *  *  Palaces  belong 
to  the  Caesar,  churches  to  the  priest.'  *  *  *  The  king 
ought  to  be  persuaded,  that  it  appertained  to  him  to  be  the 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  505 

son  of  the  church  and  not  over  the  church.  The  obedience 
lie  owes  her  he  should  exhibit  to  her  as  his  mother."  It 
was  now  the  mournful  lot  of  kings,  that  from  fear  of  their 
people  they  did  not  venture  openly  to  acknowledge  Christ. 
The  people  had  assumed  an  authority  even  over  the  con 
sciences  of  their  princes.  The  queen  ought  to  be  advised 
not  to  be  so  much  concerned  for  the  use  of  the  cup  in  the 
Lord's  Supper,  and  to  endeavor  to  discourage  the  king  from 
pressing  the  point.  They  had  neither  the  body  nor  blood 
of  Christ  who  were  out  of  the  bosom  of  the  church. 

The  Jesuit  Warsewitz  had,  in  the  report  of  his  first  mis* 
sion,  remarked,  that  if  the  king  or  the  queen  asked  for  more 
Jesuits  for  Sweden,  one  of  them  should  be  a  Pole,  the  other 
able  to  speak  Swedish,  or  to  learn  that  language.  But  as 
such  an  invitation  did  not  come,  the  pope  directed  the  gen 
eral  of  the  order  to  look  for  and  send  immediately  to  Swe 
den  a  member  of  the  order  who  understood  Swedish.  The 
choice  fell  upon  the  Northman  Laurentius  Nicholai,  the 
before  mentioned  Klosterlasse,  who,  in  the  autumn  of  1575, 
was  summoned  from  Louvain  to  Braunsbcrg,  in  Prussia, 
there  to  await  the  orders  of  cardinal  Hosius.  Compelled  to 
remain  here  over  the  winter,  at  the  close  of  April,  1576,  he 
arrived  at  Stockholm,  in  order,  while  he  disguised  his  char 
acter  as  a  Jesuit,  "  to  comfort  the  queen,  and  endeavor  cau 
tiously  to  open  a  door  for  the  catholic  faith."  He  brought 
with  him  the  aforenamed  letters  to  the  queen  and  Per 
Brahe. 

As  soon  as  Klosterlasss  and  the  companions  of  his  jour 
ney,  a  priest  from  Belgium  whose  name  was  Florentius 
Feyt,  and  a  surgeon  who  was  a  layman,  had  reached  Stock 
holm,  they  were  desired  by  the  queen,  through  Herbst,  to 
observe  the  greatest  caution,  and  Klosterlasse  in  particular, 
not  to  betray  their  character  of  Jesuits.  This  disguise  was 
approved  also  by  king  John,  who  at  this  time  was  fearful 
of  giving  nourishment  to  the  plots  which  were  centering 
22 


506  HISTORY    OF    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

about  the  imprisoned  Erik  XIV.  He  therefore  counselled 
Klosterlasse  to  endeavor  to  win  the  confidence  of  the  Ger- 
maus  residing  in  Stockholm,  as  well  as  of  the  clergy,  so 
that  the  king  might  cover  his  course  under  their  approval. 

After  Klosterlasse  had  without  difficulty  obtained,  by  fol 
lowing  this  advice,  letters  of  recommendation  from  the  Ger 
mans,  he  applied  himself  with  every  art  of  persuasion  to  the 
priests.  He  had,  he  said,  long  studied  abroad  at  Louvain, 
Douay,  and  Cologne.  After  he  had  heard  of  the  king's  in 
tention  to  found  a  college  at  Stockholm,  he  resolved  to  come 
and  offer  his  services,  because  he  wished  to  benefit  his  father 
land,  or  its  neighborhood,  rather  than  countries  more  remote 
and  foreign.  He,  therefore,  solicited  the  clergy  for  their 
recommendation  to  the  king. 

Captivated  by  the  dexterity  and  grace  with  which  he 
spoke  Latin,  in  which  they  were  themselves  very  unskilled, 
they  proposed  Klosterlasse  as  head  of  the  college  it  was  in 
contemplation  to  establish.  It  was  resolved  that  he  should 
there  lecture  on  theology,  and  Per  Brahe  was  directed  to 
put  the  cloister  and  cloister-house  of  the  grey  monks'  holm 
in  order,  for  the  opening  of  the  new  institution. 

During  the  preparations  for  opening  the  college  at  Stock 
holm,  cardinal  Hosius,  apprized  of  Klosterlasse's  favorable 
reception,  gave  him  the  following  directions  for  his  conduct : 
He  must,  before  all  things,  procure  a  church  in  which  he 
should  be  allowed  to  preach  :  as  the  Lutherans  were  allowed 
to  have  their  churches  in  Poland,  Germany,  and  Prance, 
the  king  of  Sweden  ought  to  allow  the  Christians  of  his 
country  to  have  theirs.  But  a  missionary  ought  to  avoid 
giving  offence  ;  "  Pie  might  exalt  faith  to  the  skies,  profess 
Christ  to  be  the  only  mediator,  and  that  the  sacrifice  offered 
upon  the  cross  is  the  only  one  whereby  we  can  be  saved." 
After  he  had  in  general  taught  this,  he  might  then  rightly 
explain  what  he  taught,  and  make  it  plain  to  all  that  noth 
ing  else  was  preached  in  the  realms  of  the  pope. 


REFORMATION   IN   SWEDEN.  50? 

In  August,  1576,  Klosterlasse  began  to  give  instructions 
in  the  college,  and  to  preach  in  the  church  of  the  monastery. 
King  John  collected  there  young  priests  and  candidates  for 
the  ministry,  in  no  inconsiderable  number,  and  they  had  a 
free  support  or  assistance  in  some  other  form. 

Klosterlasse  began  to  lecture  with  great  approbation. 
Well  versed  in  the  writings  of  Luther  and  Calvin,  he  had 
them  always  at  hand,  and  from  them  he  proved  his  asser 
tions,  which  either  covered  a  protestant  sense  or  were  dea 
signed  to  bring  to  light  the  disagreement  between  the  re 
formers  and  the  church  fathers.  The  enchantment  was  of 
no  long  continuance.  Klosterlasse  was  sufficiently  open- 
hearted  toward  his  scholars,  because  he  believed  himself  to 
have  won  them  more  than  he  actually  had,  and  he  roused 
their  dissatisfaction  and  suspicions. 

The  pastor  of  Stockholm,  master  Olof,  and  the  school 
master  master  Abraham,  now  began  to  discern  foul  play. 
Klosterlasse  seems  to  have  avoided  any  close  connection  with 
them.  Master  Abraham,  in  particular,  who  was  a  favorite 
with  the  courtiers,  burghers,  and  teachers,  sounded  the  note 
of  alarm,  and  gave  warning  of  Klosterlasse' s  doctrines. 
Both  those  men  soon  became  his  decided  opponents ;  but 
they  were  also  opponents  of  the  king  in  his  plans  for  the 
church,  and  they  were  removed  from  Stockholm.  On  the 
contrary,  Klosterlasse  took  the  liturgy  under  his  protection, 
as  he  hoped  it  might  contribute  to  introduce  by  degrees  the 
Roman  faith. 

The  prospects  were  at  first  promising.  King  John  still 
dreamed  of  the  possibility  of  a  union  with  Rome  on  the 
principles  he  had  himself  concerted  ;  queen  Catherine  exulted 
over  the  good  work ;  duke  Charles'  love  schemes  turned  his 
attention  from  the  affairs  of  the  church  ;  many  of  the  fore 
most  men  of  the  kingdom  sustained  the  church  politics  of 
the  court ;  and  it  was  believed  that  the  opposition  to  the 
liturgy,  which  was  at  first  weak  and  hesitating,  would  soon 


508  HISTORY    OF   THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

be  stifled.  The  friends  of  that  liturgy  did  not  yet  compre 
hend  the  differences  which  divided-  them  from  the  new  Ro 
man  church. 

Under  these  circumstances,  Klosterlasse  could  work  all 
the  more  openly.  His  conferences  with  the  king  removed 
many  of  his  unfavorable  sentiments  of  the  pope  and  Roman 
church*  The  number  of  his  pupils  increased.  He  reported, 
in  the  spring  of  fo77,  that  he  had  already  converted  thirty 
to  the  Roman  faith,  and  laborers  alone  seemed  wanting  to 
win  back  Sweden.  Pie  could  now  send  the  first  fruits  of 
the  Swedish  youth  to  be  brought  up  at  Rome  as  priests 
This  was  done,  as  Hosius,  in  1574,  had  desired,  with  consent 
of  the  king,  who  gave  the  young  men  money  for  their  jour 
ney.  Six  in  number,  led  by  a  nephew  of  bishop  Brask,  a 
youth  of  nineteen,  they  clandestinely  left  their  fatherland,  in 
the  summer  of  1577,  to  enter  the  German  college  at  Rome, 
enlarged  by  pope  Gregory  XIII. 

Klosterlasse  mourned  over  the  want  of  laborers  in  the 
field  ;  of  this  he  complained  to  the  queens  Catharine  of 
Sweden  and  Anna  of  Poland.  Feyt,  who  in  1577  returned 
to  the  Netherlands,  was  commissioned  to  bring  back  with 
him  priests,  books,  and  a  press,  for  which  object  he  received 
money  from  the  king.  He  had  found,  as  participants  of 
his  travels,  two  priests,  a  phy&ician,  and  a  printer.  Books 
had  been  given  in  great  number  by  the  students  of  Louvain, 
who  sent  to  Klosterlasse  the  writings  of  the  church  fathers, 
and  the  later  Roman  catholic  authors,  as  well  as  the  old 
Greek  and  L/atin  classics.  But  before  the  return  of  Feyt 
and  his  companions,  the  man  had  already  made  his  appear 
ance  in  Sweden  who,  in  personal  energy,  takes  the  fore 
most  rank  among  the  missionaries  of  Rome  to  that  land. 

In  Rome,  the  case  was  regarded  in  a  light  somewhat  dif 
ferent  from  that  in  which  it  was  viewed  by  Klosterlasse. 
He  sought,  by  moderate  measures  and  concessions,  to  gain 
an  entrance  for  the  Roman  church  and  professors  of  its 


REFORMATION    IX    SWEDEN.  509 

faith,  and  expected  to  carry  the  king  in  the  current,  if  he 
i  was  fortunate  enough  to  build  up  a  strong  llomish  party. 
;  Hosius,  and  the  pope,  were  not  satisfied  with  half  popery, 
{   and  laid  great  weight  on  gaining  over  the  king,  who  they 
'   believed  would  carry  his  people  along  with  him.      This  was 
'•    also  the  aim  of  Klosterlasse,  and  he  used  every  opportunity 
to  impress  the  king  with  more  favorable  sentiments  of  the 
leaders  of  the  Roman  church,  and  he  succeeded  in  giving 
him  an  esteem  and  love   for  pope  Gregory,  whose  benefi 
cence    and    other    virtues    he    highly    extolled.       In     con 
formity  with   these    attempts,  and  by    the  express    desire 
of  Hosius,    in  a   letter  dated    January  8,    1576,   but  also 
in  conformity  with  his  own  principles  and  aims,  the  king 
sent  Pontus  de  la  Gardie  and  Fecht  to  Home.     The  death 
of  the  latter  we-  have  already  related.      De  la  Gardie  deliv 
ered  his  message  respecting  the  church,  as  well  as  he  could 
according  to  oral  instructions  and  Fecht's  rescued  papers. 
The  pope  ordered  a  congregation  of  cardinals  and  theolo 
gians  to  take  the  matter  into  consideration.     But  there  was 
one   point  of  John's  demands  to  which   they  were  willing 
immediately  to  accede,  the  rather  with  the  hope  of  thereby 
avoiding  the  unpleasantness  of  giving  an  answer  to  the  rest. 
This  was  to  send  to  Sweden  a  man  with  whom  John  could 
personally  treat. 

On  the  choice  of  this  man,  the  success  of  the  work  of 
conversion  in  Sweden  seemed  to  depend.  The  pope  re 
garded  this  mission  as  so  important,  that  he  declared  he 
would  be  willing  himself  to  go  to  Sweden  did  not  the  care 
of  the  whole  church  compel  him  to  forbear.  The  choice 
fell  upon  the  Jesuit  Possevin,  who,  after  some  entreaty,  sub 
mitted  to  the  pope's  command. 

Antonio  Possevino  was  born  in  Italy,  at  Mantua,  in 
1534,  had  studied  at  Rome,  and  had  long  fixed  his  eye  on 
the  learning  and  piety  of  the  Jesuits,  the  two  objects  of  his 
own  life,  when,  in  1559,  he  became  a  member  of  the  order. 


510  HISTORY    OF   THE   ECCLESIASTICAL 

He  was  soon  after  sent  to  Piedmont,  to  engage  the  duke  of 
Savoy  in  the  interests  of  the  Roman  church.  He  wished 
to  convert  the  protestants  of  Piedmont,  and  penetrated  its 
valleys,  either  alone  or  with  the  soldiery  who  were  to  coerce 
the  conversion  of  its  inhabitants.  From  15G2  he  began 
to  operate  in  France ;  at  first  by  visits  from  Savoy,  after 
ward  by  a  continued  abode  there.  Here,  as  in  Savoy,  he 
at  first  concealed  his  being  a  Jesuit.  He  labored  at  Lyons 
by  preaching,  writing,  and  personal  influence,  to  convert  the 
protestants.  He  was  sent  on  important  embassies,  and  with 
success  to  the  French  court,  contributed  to  open  France  to 
the  Jesuits,  was  rector  of  their  college  first  at  Avignon, 
and  afterward  at  Lyons.  In  1572,  soon  after  the  massacre 
of  the  Huguenots  in  France,  of  which  mournful  tragedy 
he  must  have  been  a  spectator  if  not  a  participator,  he  was 
sent  to  Rome  to  attend  the  election  which  made  Eberhard 
Mercurianus  general  of  his  order.  He  was  retained  by  its 
chief  as  secretary  of  the  order.  He  familiarized  himself 
with  Sweden,  by  reading  the  historic  work  of  Olaus  Magni, 
long  before  he  foreboded  any  personal  acquaintance  with 
this  land. 

The  commission  he  now  received  from  the  pope  was  to 
effect  king  John's  entire  restoration  to  the  Roman  church. 
But  there  was  another  to  be  won,  if  even  the  chief  purpose 
failed.  During  the  contest  which  William  of  Orange  com 
menced  against  Spain  for  the  liberties  of  his  church  and 
country,  it  was  feared  that  the  fleets  of  the  north  would 
come  to  his  assistance,  and  Possevin  was  to  prevent  a  fleet 
being  sent  from  Sweden  to  Belgium.  He  was  enjoined, 
on  coming  to  Sweden,  to  change  his  ecclesiastical  attire  for 
that  of  a  civilian. 

The  embassage  from  John  III.,  which  occasioned  the 
departure  of  Possevin,  could  not  but  be  welcome  to  the 
Roman  chair  and  create  many  hopes.  Gregory  XIH.  not 
only  showed  his  satisfaction  by  furnishing  De  la  Gardie 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  511 

with  a  letter  of  recommendation  to  the  vice-king  of  Naples, 
and  by  speaking  in  his  favor  in  the  matter  of  inheritance 
that  first  gave  occasion  to  the  intercourse  between  Sweden 
and  Rome,  but  both  he  and  Possevin  were  furnished  with 
letters  from  the  pope  to  the  king,  queen,  duke  Charles,  and 
count  Brahe. 

The  letters  to  the  king  expressed  great  content,  but  exhort 
him,  laying  aside  all  human  considerations,  wholly  and 
entirely  and  without  delay  to  return  to  the  bosom  of  the 
church  and  there  find  rest.  The  letters  to  duke  Charles, 
and  especially  that  of  introduction,  which  Possevin  brought 
along  with  him,  show  that  as  yet  that  prince  was  not  mis 
trusted.  Gregory  expresses  the  hope,  that  the  duke  would 
not  be  among  those  foes  that  met  the  pope  with  unrighteous 
hate,  and  he  endeavors  from  the  words  of  Augustin  to 
prove,  that  out  of  the  catholic  church  there  was  no  salva 
tion,  and  that  the  catholic  church  was  that  which  was  then 
so  called.  Even  Hosius  now  wrote  to  the  king,  expressing 
his  joy,  and  dilating  upon  the  necessity  of  the  church's  unity 
opposition  to  many-headed  heresy.  It  seems  to  have  been 
the  last  letter  to  Sweden  from  the  man  who  first  opened 
an  intercourse  between  John  and  the  pope.  He  foresaw 
not  that  this  intercourse  was  already  nearer  its  end  than 
its  beginning. 

Possevin  left  Home  in  September.  At  Prague  he  re 
ceived  a  commission  from  the  dowager  empress  Maria  as 
her  ambassador,  to  acquaint  the  king  of  Sweden  with  the 
death,  on  October  12th,  of  her  husband,  the  emperor  Maxi 
milian.  He  disembarked  at  Kalmar,  and  continued  his 
route  by  land  for  eighteen  days  to  Stockholm,  where  he 
arrived  on  December  19,  1577,  in  company  with  two  Jesuit 
priests,  an  Irishman,  W.  Good,  and  a  Frenchman,  J.  For- 
nier,  who  followed  him  from  Rome. 

He  appeared  as  the  imperial  ambassador  in  civil  attire, 
with  a  sword  by  his  side,  and  was  received  by  the  king  in 


512  HISTORY    OP   THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

great  state.  In  private  he  presented  himself  to  the  king  as 
the  papal  nuncio,  delivered  the  letters  he  had  brought  with, 
him  from  Rome,  and,  after  learning  from  the  queen  and 
Klosterlasse  the  state  of  affairs,  he  commenced  his  negotia 
tions  with  the  king,  which  were  daily  carried  on,  either  by 
oral  conferences  or  written  communications.  The  investi 
gation  was,  on  the  king's  part,  rigorous  and  earnest,  and 
Possevin  was  obliged  to  employ  all  his  learning  and  practice 
in  theological  controversy,  in  the  endeavor  to  overcome 
his  doubts. 

John  contended  for  his  privileges,  and  while  both  were 
agreed  in  their  disapproval  of  protestantism,  and  in  array 
ing  against  it  the  catholic  church,  the  nuncio  claimed  that 
he  only  was  to  be  acknowledged  a  true  catholic,  who  was. 
in  visible  connection  with  the  Roman  church,  and  was  its 
and  the  peope's  leal  son.  The  king  presented  written 
questions,  which  were  answered  in  writing  by  Possevin, 
and  they  show  how  the  former  endeavored  to  avoid  being 
driven  into  the  only  refuge  the  latter  opened  to  him.  Could 
not  they,  asked  the  king,  who  avouch  their  faith  in  the 
Scriptures  and  hate  sin  be  saved,  even  if  they  do  not  accept 
all  the  articles  of  faith  of  the  catholic  church  1  Could  not 
they  who  are  sundered  from  the  church's  outward  unity  be 
saved,  if  they  hold  all  that  belongs  to  faith  ?  Have  not  the 
Lutherans,  bishops  and  priesls,  or  is  not  the  church  there 
where  true  bishops  and  priests  are  not  ?  There  were  other 
similar  questions. 

All  these  questions  revolve  around  a  centre,  which  it  was 
all  important  to  the  Jesuit  carefully  to  defend — obedience  to 
the  Roman  church.  Ikit  while  he  rejoiced  to  see  the  king 
daily  approximate  to  his  views,  he  experienced  what  Klos- 
terlasse  said  to  him  upon  coming  to  Sweden,  that  the  king 
was  inflexible  on  certain  points,  and  would  not  be  per 
suaded  that  the  pope  should  not  on  these  give  way.  Even 
on  these  points  there  was  an  earnest  discussion,  and  the 


REFORMATION   IN    SWEDEN.  513 

king  believed  that  he  had  satisfied  Possevin  of  the  reasona- 
|  bleness  of  his  propositions,  'in  conformity  with  the  holy 
Scriptures,  the  institutions  of  the  apostles,  and  writings 
of  the  fathers,  and  even  the  edicts  of  popes  and  decrees 
of  councils.  Possevin,  when  he  found  the  king's  obstinacy 
in  these  points  was  invincible,  was  obliged  in  part  to  yield, 
and  appear  to  deem  it  not  impossible  that  the  pope  would 
consent  to  the  use  of  the  cup  in  the  Lord's  Supper  and  the 
marriage  of  the  clergy.  He,  therefore,  sent  the  king's 
demands  to  Rome,  to  be  submitted  to  the  pope's  examina 
tion  and  final  decision. 

Meanwhile  the  Jesuit  and  John  continued  to  interchange 
arguments  with  each  other,  and  what  Possevin  could  not 
gain  from  John's  convictions,  he  hoped  to  effect  by  means 
of  his  deep  piety,  his  facile  imagination,  and  his  scnsative 
heart.  No  one  was  more  suited  to  the  task  of  obtaining 
an  influence  over  king  John  than  Possevin,  whose  grave 
and  self-denying  life,  manifested  in  bodily  mortifications 
and  fast?,  whose  eloquence,  great  learning,  and  acquaintance 
with  the  Scriptnres,  which  was  peculiarly  estimable  in  the 
king's  eyes,  made  him  in  all  respects  a  man  after  John's 
own  heart.  Drawn  to  him  by  this  similarity  of  character, 
the  soul  of  John  was  bowed  under  the  stronger  will  and 
fascinating  powers  of  his  companion. 

One  day,  while  they  were  conversing  on  the  catholic 
church,  and,  it  seems,  on  the  cteath  of  Peter  Fecht  on  his 
journey  to  Rome,  and  the  king  was  in  an  agitated  frame 
of  mind,  Possevin  remarked  what  a  difference  there  was 
between  the  Peter  who  went  on  the  sea  and  when  he  began 
to  sink  was  rescued  by  the  hand  of  the  Lord,  and  him  who, 
because  he  was  not  called  of  the  Lord,  perished  in  the 
waves.  The  king  ought  to  imitate  the  former,  to  deny  him 
self,  to  take  up  his  cross  and  follow  Christ.  Then  would 
he  be  able  to  save  his  people.  The  cross  and  its  suMering 
would  by  God's  help  disappear.  He  ought, — the  Jesuit 
•  22* 


514  HISTORY    OF    THE   ECCLESIASTICAL 

was  proceeding,  when  John  burst  into  tears,  abjured  all 
heresy,  made  a  general  confession  of  his  whole  previous  life, 
received  absolution,  and  professed  his  determination  to  be 
guided  by  his  counsels  who  occupied  the  place  of  Christ 
upon  earth.  When  John  had  avowed  his  purpose,  Possevin 
put  into  his  hand  the  creed  of  pope  Pius  IV.,  or  that  of  the 
so-called  council  of  Trent,  for  his  examination  and  acknow 
ledgment,  and  appointed  him  three  days  for  reflection,  after 
which  he  was  to  confess  and  obtain  absolution. 

Hardly  was  the  second  day  at  an  end  before  John  again 
summoned  Possevin,  and  declared  himself  ready.  On  his 
knees,  the  king  confessed  all  his  foregoing  life,  and  after 
promising  obedience  in  all  things,  received  absolution  from 
the  papal  nuncio. 

The  nuncio  now  kneeled  down,  thanked  God  for  the 
king's  conversion,  and  prayed  that  the  good  work  which 
had  been  begun,  might  be  brought  to  completion.  The 
king  stood  up  in  great  agitation,  and  embracing  Possevin, 
exclaimed,  "I  embrace  you  and  the  catholic  church  for 
ever !" 

The  following  day,  which  was  the  Gth  of  May,  1578, 
the  king  requested  Possevin  to  perform  mass  in  his  presence. 
This  was  done  the  same  day  in  the  king's  parlor,  in  which 
he  and  his  tAvo  secretaries,  Nils  Brask,  the  nephew  of 
bishop  Brask,  and  John  Henriksson,  received  the  sacrament 
from  Possevin. 

Such,  in  brief,  is  the  narrative  of  the  only  man  who  has 
left  it  us,  respecting  king  John's  return  to  the  Roman 
church.  Possevin  himself  would  willingly  have  it  as  he 
represents  it,  but  his  own  representation  and  conduct  create 
mistrust.  He  was  too  much  inclined  to  mistake  a  hasty 
transport  of  feeling  for  a  serious  conviction.  The  king- 
certainly  thought  himself  in  connection  with  the  Roman 
catholic  church,  even  if  the  words  he  uttered  in  an  hour  of 
great  excitement,  do  not  assure  us  of  this  sentiment.  It 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  515 

would  be  more  to  the  purpose,  if,  as  reported,  he  acknow 
ledged  the  Trindentine  creed,  which,  in  many  points,  is 
at  war  with  John's  views,  expressed  before  and  after  this 
time.  But  John  had  an  idea  of  the  Roman  church  other 
than  its  then  condition  justified.  lie  had  never  ceased  to 
believe  in  the  possibility  of  the  concession  of  what  he 
required  from  the  pope.  He  could  not  have  acknowledged 
his  belief  in  the  creed  of  Trent,  unless  'he  either  dissembled, 
for  which  there  was  in  that  hour  no  call,  or,  mastered  by 
his  feelings,  spoke  unconsciously,  which  is  not  probable  ;  or, 
if  he  did  so  speak,  believed  himself  able  to  explain  that 
creed  consistently  with  his  own  views,  or,  if  that  were  too 
much  for  even  John's  blind  egotism,  regarded  his  union 
with  Home,  not  as  a  full  conversion,  but  as  embracing  it 
with  the  reserve  of  perfect  freedom. 

This  last  supposition  seems  the  most  probable  ;  and  Pos- 
sevin  either  did  not  understand  the  king,  or  would  not  un 
derstand  him.  Before  the  king  received  absolution  after 
confession,  he  must  have  promised  to  submit  to  the  pope's 
determination  in  regard  to  the  required  concessions.  The 
following  day,  immediately  after  the  administration  of  the 
Lord's  Supper  by  Possevin,  the  king  conferred  with  him 
respecting  these  concessions,  without  which  he  regarded  a 
reunion  of  the  Swedish  church  with  the  Roman  to  be  diffi 
cult  or  impossible.  When  Possevin  said  he  did  not  believe 
the  pope  would  grant  them,  the  king  was  amazed.  He  had, 
he  said,  during  the  whole  time  presupposed  this  mode  of  pacifica 
tion, 

There  is  not  the  slightest  evidence  that  John  III.  partook 
of  the  Lord's  Supper  even  once  after  the  6th  of  May,  1578, 
at  the  hands  of  Possevin,  during  the  three  weeks  the  latter 
subsequently  remained  in  Stockholm,  or  from  the  hands  of 
any  Roman  priest.  This,  according  to  the  custom  of  the 
times,  he  doubtless  should  have  done,  if  he  considered  him 
self  to  stand  in  full  ecclesiastical  communion  with  those 


516  HISTOKY    OF   THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

priests.  When  he  empowered  Possevin,  under  promise  of 
certain  advantages,  to  engage  Roman  catholic  families  to 
immigrate  to  Sweden,  lie  added  a  half  permission  that  they 
might  bring  their  own  priests  and  open  a  church.  But  the 
condition  was  attached  that  they  should  perform  mass  in 
their  native  language,  and,  at  least  when  they  first  came, 
twice  a  week  in  Swedish.  This  proves  that  he  did  not  con 
sider  his  liturgy  incompatible  with  the  Roman  catholic  con 
fession. 

Possevin,  himself,  found  the  success  of  his  cause  very  un 
certain  ;  an  uncertainty  which  equally  affected  the  king,  as 
to  the  possibility  of  converting  his  people.  The  cause  of 
the  catholic  religion,  he  writes,  has  as  yet  no  firm  founda 
tion  in  this  kingdom,  and  "  I  am  in  great  distress  of  mind 
when  I  know  what  our  hinderances  are ;  an  extraordinary 
mercy  from  on  high  and  a  watchful  attention  are  needed  in 
this  undertaking ;  otherwise,  the  whole  of  this  frail  web 
will  either  be  broken  or  illy  continued,  and  so  there  will  be 
a  separation."  Even  at  Rome,  according  to  Possevin's  own 
representation,  it  was  found  that  the  king  was  agitated  by 
a  variety  of  opinions,  wishes,  and  fears,  and  that  the  cause 
"  was  far  from  being  as  prosperous  as  was  hoped." 

Possevin  thought  it  best  to  go  to  Rome,  not  only  because 
he  was  afraid  of  a  further  explanation  with  the  king  and 
hoped  that  time  would  furnish  opportunity,  but  to  reflect 
upon  the  measures  and  steps  to  be  adopted,  how  the  denial 
of  the  king's  demands  might  be  given  in  the  mildest 
manner. 

Possevin  left  Stockholm  on  the  28th  of  May,  1578,  after 
more  than  five  months'  stay.  The  king  expressed  to  him 
the  wish  that  the  house  of  St.  Britas,  or  Bridget,  at  Rome, 
should  be  converted  into  a  Swedish  seminary  for  priests, 
and  gave  him  reason  to  expect  a  project  for  the  support  of 
that  seminary  out  of  the  Neapolitan  inheritance,  giving  him 
at  the  same  time  an  instalment  out  of  that  resource  for  tho 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  517 

purchase  of  books  and  church  ornaments.  Pie  was  conveyed 
by  a  royal  ship  to  Dantzic,  accompanied  by  five  Swedish 
youths  who  were  to  be  placed  in  the  German  college  at 
Rome,  and  then  to  Braunsberg,  accompanied  by  the  secre 
tary  John  Henriksson.  This  last  person  soon  returned  to 
Stockholm  with  four  Jesuits,  of  whom  two,  A.  Wisowsky, 
and  the  Warsewitz  who  was  here  in  1574,  became  chaplains 
to  the  queen,  the  other  two  being  assistants  to  Klosterlasse 
in  the  college. 

Possevin  took  with  him  many  commissions,  one  of  which 
was  to  propose  the  marriage  of  young  Sigismund  with  a 
member  of  the  Romish  imperial  family.  He  sent  to  Rome 
an  account  of  his  embassage,  and  a  project  for  carrying  on 
successfully  the  missionary  work  in  Sweden,  together  with 
a  most  important  scheme  for  educating  Swedish  young  men. 
Possevin  proposed  the  extension  of  the  Jesuit  colleges  estab 
lished  in  1565  and  1566  at  Braunsberg  and  Olmutz.  The 
former,  instituted  by  cardinal  Hosius,  was  peculiarly  adapted 
to  the  purpose,  because  it  lay  near  the  coast  of  the  Eastern 
sea,  not  far  from  Dantzic,  so  much  frequented  by  Swedes, 
and  between  that  city  and  Konigsberg.  For  youths 
either  leaving  Sweden  or  returning,  as  well  as  circulating 
books  in  that  country,  this  place  was  exceedingly  conve 
nient.  Toward  the  close  of  1578,  these  institutions  ob 
tained  the  pope's  confirmation,  according  to  Possevin's  pro 
ject. 

These  seminaries  were  to  pay  special  attention  to  the 
work  of  conversion  in  Sweden,  Denmark,  Norway,  and 
Russia.  The  pope  appropriated  a  sum  of  money  for  the 
support  of  a  hundred  youths,  fifty  in  each  place,  together 
with  their  teachers  and  those  who  were  to  superintend  the 
work  of  missions  in  northern  lands.  The  young  men  were 
to  have  everything  free,  except  clothes.  Some  time  after 
their  entrance  they  were  to  pledge  themselves  always  to 
maintain  the  Roman  catholic  faith,  but  if  they  renounced 


518  HISTORY    OP    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

or  apostatized  from  this  faith,  they  were  to  refund  all  ex 
penses.  They  were  not  obliged  to  become  priests,  but  each 
was  at  liberty  to  choose  his  calling.  In  their  studies  they 
were  to  confine  themselves  to  such  a  course  as  corresponded 
to  the  character  and  needs  of  the  people  among  whom  they 
were  to  live.  If  for  the  Swedes  or  Finns  who  were  at 
Braunsberg,  there  was  danger,  from  proximity  to  their 
fatherland,  of  falling  into  heresy,  or  being  recalled  by  their 
parents  or  relations,  they  were  to  be  removed  to  Olmutz, 
which,  as  more  inland,  was  considered  more  secure.  After 
Possevin  had  put  everything  in  order  for  opening  the  sem 
inaries,  young  men  were  at  once  admitted,  and  of  these 
Olmutz,  in  1580,  had  ten  Swedes  and  Finns,  whose  names 
were  enrolled  the  preceding  year,  and  Braunsberg  probably 
still  more. 

Some  time  before  Possevin  left  Sweden,  he  had  received, 
in  March,  1578,  and  immediately  sent  to  Koine,  king  John's 
conditions,  which  not  being  granted,  that  prince  declared  a 
reunion  of  the  Swedish  church  with  Rome  impossible. 
These  conditions  were  twelve,  and  were  regarded  in  Rome 
as  a  demonstrative  proof  how  little  the  result  of  Possevin's 
mission  corresponded  to  the  hopes  entertained  from  an  easily 
won  victory.  The  pope  caused  them  to  be  examined  by  a 
congregation  appointed  for  the  purpose.  The  most  import 
ant  were,  that  the  pope  should  allow  that  the  mass  should 
be  celebrated  in  Swedish,  that  the  Lord's  Supper  should  be 
received  r.i  both  kinds,  that  priests  might  marry,  that  cath 
olic  prices  should  refrain  at  their  mass  from  reading  with 
a  loud  voice  the  invocation  to  saints  and  prayers  for  the 
dead,  and  th.it  the  use  of  holy  water  and  some  other  cere 
monies  might  be  abrogated.  All  these  were  refused  by  the 
pope.*  With  some  hesitation,  he  was  willing  to  grant  the 

*  On  the  question  of  administering  in  both  kinds,  it  was  answered,  that 
the  church  thereby  distinguished  her  children  and  confessors  from  heretics 
*o  that  when  these  received  only  the  bread,  the  church  required  the  Lord's 
Supper  to  be  administered  under  bread  and  wine,  and  vice  versa. 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  519 

king  the  right  he  claimed  of  judging  bishops  in  cases  of  life 
and  death  and  high  treason,  and  to  take  their  oath  of  alle 
giance.  The  latter  was  only  granted  on  condition  that  the 
oath  was  in  a  suitable  form,  which  the  pope  was  to  draw 
up.  The  king's  request  that  the  church  jfroperty  recovered 
by  heirs  should  not  be  restored,  the  pope  would  grant,  and 
give  its  possessors  absolution,  but  on  condition  that  they 
were  converted  to  the  catholic  faith.  His  request  to  have 
preachers  and  some  ceremonies  of  the  Lutherans,  could  only 
be  granted  as  to  the  preachers,  if  the  king  for  a  good  pur 
pose  wished  to  hear  them.  That  the  cloister  of  the  Fran 
ciscans  at  Stockholm  should  not  be  re-established,  but  con 
tinue  in  use  as  a  college,  was  conceded,  with  the  proviso  that 
catholic  teachers  were  placed  there. 

King  John  had  made  it  one  of  his  conditions,  that  the 
grave  of  his  father,  in  the  cathedral  of  Upsala,  should  not  be 
disturbed  ;  to  this  it  was  answered,  that  certainly  it  was 
contrary  to  the  holy  rules  and  order  of  the  church  that  a 
heretic  should  have  his  grave  in  a  catholic  church,  and  in  a 
chapel  of  the  virgin  Mary,  but  the  pope  would  respect  the 
king's  filial  reverence,  and  therefore  leave  king  Gustavus' 
body  in  quiet  where  it  was  laid.  Doubtless  king  John's 
request  was  approved  that  God  should  be  entreated,  by  gen 
eral  prayers,  to  give  a  happy  issue  to  the  negotiation.  The 
pope  ordered  these  prayers,  but  without  naming  the  king  or 
his  kingdom. 

The  determination  of  the  pope  was,  on  July  25,  1578, 
communicated  to  Possevin,  in  a  letter  from  the  cardinal  of 
Como.  An  Italian  nobleman,  L.  Cagnoli,  who  lived  at 
Stockholm,  had,  in  1577,  been  sent  to  Rome  with  a  letter 
from  the  queen.  He  was  on  the  eve  of  returning  to  Swe 
den  with  the  answer  to  John's  demands,  when  Laurentius 
Magnus,  a  nephew  of  the  archbishops  Johannes  and  Olaus 
Magnus,  himself  designed  for  a  high  place  in  the  contem 
plated  new  Roman  church,  came  with  the  information  that 


520  HISTORY    OF    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

Possevin  had  left  this  land  and  was  on  his  way  to  Rome. 
According  to  Posseyin's  plan,  Herbst  and  Good,  who  with 
Possevin's  other  companion  remained  behind  in  Sweden, 
were  empowered  to  receive  the  pope's  answer  and  commu 
nicate  its  contents  to  the  king.  Cagnoli  came  to  Stockholm 
in  October,  1578,  bringing  with  him,  besides  this  answer, 
letters  from  the  pope  to  the  king,  queen,  Per  Brahe,  Nils 
Brask,  and  a  lord  of  the  council  not  named. 

When  this  answer  came  to  Stockholm,  events  had  occur 
red  which  in  part  already  changed,  in  part  threatened  to 
change,  the  state  of  the  case.  The  principal  cause  of  them 
was  Klosterlasse,  whose  indiscretion  fixed  suspicion  and 
censure  on  the  college  he  supported.  This  indiscretion  prob 
ably,  too,  gave  nourishment  to  the  grudge  felt  for  the  fa 
vored  foreigner,  and  gathered  over  his  head  the  hate  and 
disdain  which  were  naturally  excited,  when,  notwithstand 
ing  his  disguise,  his  double-dealing  and  art  began  to  be 
manifest. 

King  John's  secretary  and  favorite,  Johan  Henriksson, 
lived  with  the  wife  of  a  man  who,  after  a  false  report  of  his 
death  reached  Sweden,  unexpectedly  carne  home.  This 
connection  the  archbishop  Laurentius  Petri  pronounced  un 
lawful.  The  husband,  after  his  return,  was  murdered  by 
Henriksson's  servant,  who  was  punished  with  death  for  his 
deed.  His  master,  who  was  suspected  of  having  instigated 
the  crime,  was  obliged  to  pay  a  fine.  Henriksson  wished 
afterward  to  marry  the  woman,  but  the  archbishop  refused 
to  allow  him  to  do  so.  He  now  applied  to  Klosterlasse  to 
obtain  the  papal  dispensation,  which,  under  existing  rela 
tions,  might  be  considered  valid.  Klosterlasse  referred  the 
case  to  the  general  of  his  order  before  the  first  coming  of 
Possevin,  and  laid  great  stress  upon  Henriksson's  being 
much  in  favor  with  the  king,  who  wished  his  favorite  to 
be  gratified.  He  was,  moreover,  a  man  of  great  influence, 
the  torment  of  the  Lutheran  priests,  a  zealous  patron  of  the 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  521 

:  cause  of  the  Jesuits,  and  Klosterlasse's  particular  friend. 
When  Possevin  subsequently  arrived,  the  marriage  suit  was 
submitted  to  him,  and,  as  the  result,  Klosterlasse,  on  Feb 
ruary  G,  1578,  "  by  the  authority  given  him  from  almighty 
God,"  and  by  the  plenary  power  which  the  imperial  legate 
Possevin  held  of  the  apostolic  chair,  and  now  imparted  to 
Klosterlasse,  declared  that  he  gave  Henriksson  and  the 
woman  absolution  of  their  sins,  and  allowed  them  to  marry. 

This  letter  of  license  soon  came  to  the  knowledge  of  the 
archbishop,  and  could  not  but  awaken  his  suspicions  and 
dislike  of  the  man  whom,  till  now,  he  seems  to  have  thought 
really  attached  to  the  Lutheran  church.  But  that  he  should 
attempt,  by  virtue  of  the  papal  authority,  to  attack  the  dis 
cipline  and  order  of  the  church,  was  more  than  the  duty  he 
owed  his  office  and  his  conscience  would  allow  the  arch 
bishop  to  tolerate.  In  a  letter  of  the  20th  of  March,  to 
Klosterlasse,  he  declared  the  displeasure  with  which  he  had 
seen  a  dispensation  grounded  on  false  authority,  and,  "  by 
the  authority  given  him  by  God  and  the  congregation  of 
God,"  he  pronounced  the  dispensation  of  no  effect,  and 
Ivlosterlasse  unworthy  the  priestly  office,  from  the  exercise 
of  which  he  was  to  be  suspended  until  the  archbishop,  re 
pentance  and  amendment  being  manifested,  should  again 
reinstate  him. 

This  took  place  while  Possevin  was  still  at  Stockholm. 
The  hate  entertained  for  Klosterlasse  and  his  college  pre 
ceded  the  sentence  of  excommunication  pronounced  by  the 
archbishop,  and  aroused  the  king's  fears.  He,  too,  had  be 
come  so  dissatisfied  with  Klosterlasse  that  he  required  Pos 
sevin  to  remove  him,  and  recalled  the  commission  given  him 
as  rector  of  the  college.  Possevin  hesitated,  but  after  the 
doom  of  suspension  by  the  archbishop  was  pronounced,  and 
the  priests  of  Stockholm  began  to  preach  more  decidedly 
than  usual,  he  was  obliged  to  take  some  steps  for  quieting 
the  commotion.  What  these  steps  were  has  not  been  re- 


522        ,  HISTORY   OF   THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

ported,  but  probably  the  ingress  of  more  Roman  priests 
from  Poland,  to  assist  in  the  college,  left  Iflosterlasse  more 
unnoticed. 

The  eyes  of  the  archbishop  had  become  opened.  His 
zeal  for  the  liturgy  had  cooled,  and  he  was  of  opinion  that 
it  was  impossible  to  go  further  without  disturbing  the  peace 
of  the  land.  He  began  to  ally  himself  more  closely  to  his 
former  friends,  and  came  forward  as  an  author  against  the 
liturgical  cause  and  popery,  as  soon  as  he  became  aware  of 
the  Jesuitical  plots.  His  reply,  aimed  against  the  plots  of  the 
papists,  was  circulated  through  the  land,  and  must,  as  com 
ing  from  a  man  suspected  of  being  their  secret  friend,  have 
excited  attention  and  raised  the  courage  of  the  party  which 
was  averse  to  liturgism  and  popery ;  the  rather  that  a  re 
port  soon  followed  the  circulation  of  this  reply,  that  his 
qualms  of  conscience  had  hastened  his  death. 

It  was  about  this  time  that  master  Abraham  came  to 
Upsala  from  his  exile  in  Aland,  and  preached  a  sermon, 
such  that  "  a  heart  not  of  granite  or  steel  must  surely  have 
wept."  He  spoke  of  the  public  worship  of  papists  and 
Lutherans,  and  showed  that  the  former  wras  framed  on  false 
principles,  and  having  prayed  for  true  preachers  of  God's 
word,  denounced  Klosterlasse  and  his  party  as  betrayers 
and  murderers  of  souls,  beseeching  God  to  protect  fatherland 
from  this  voracious  wolf. 

The  king  could  not  avoid  seeing  that  the  cause  of  the 
ordinantia  and  liturgy  was  signally  hazarded  by  being 
thrown  into  the  vortex  of  the  lively  abhorrence  of  popery 
and  Jesuitism.  As  the  opposition  derived  its  strength 
chiefly  from  the  hatred  of  the  latter  being  transferred  to  the 
former,  it  might  be  hoped  that  opposition  would  be  weak 
ened  by  separating  the  two  from  each  other. 

Among  the  council  of  the  kingdom  and  high  nobility, 
there  were  many  who,  having  at  first  favored  the  king's 
plans,  began  to  reflect  with  dread,  that  if  a  union  with 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  .        523 

Rome  was  effected,  the  valuable  investitures  they  held  of 
the  church  property  suppressed  to  the  crown,  might  be  taken 
from  them.  One  of  these  was  the  king's  favorite,  Pontus 
de  la  GJ-ardie,  who  "  sailed  with  all  winds." 

By  his  alliance,  in  1578,  with  the  family  of  one  of  the 
German  protestant  princes,  duke  Charles  stood  forth 
mightier  than  before,  and  became  a  centre  and  rallying 
point  to  the  dissatisfied.  The  eyes  of  Europe  were  turned 
on  Sweden,  and  state  policy  struggled  for  king  John's  con 
science  and  ecclesiastical  faith.  The  protestant  princes 
feared  to  have  behind  them  a  popish  king  in  Sweden,  and 
strained  every  effort  to  avert  John  from  a  union  with  Rome. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  pope  exhorted  the  Roman  catholic 
princes  to  take  part  with  him,  and  the  proud  and  powerful 
Philip  of  Spain  kept,  in  1578,  his  own  ambassador  at  Stock 
holm,  to  prevent  the  apprehended  union  between  king  John 
and  prince  William  of  Orange. 

D.  Chytrasus,  of  Rostock,  who  at  an  earlier  period  stood 
in  intimate  connection  with  king  John,  and  in  1574  had 
addressed  him  in  praise  of  the  Swedes  who  were  in  the 
university,  requesting  him  to  send  more  there,  was  among 
the  most  indefatigable  in  the  work  of  protestantism  in  Swe 
den.  Chytrceus  eitker  did  not  mistrust,  or  hoped  to  win 
over  the  king. 

Under  these  circumstances,  came  the  letter  which  con 
tained  the  pope's  answer  to  the  requests  John  had  presented. 
Impatient  when  he  heard  of  its  arrival,  he  summoned 
Warsewitz  and  Good,  and  desired  to  know  its  contents. 
When  Warsewitz  orally  communicated  them  to  him,  he  did 
not  believe  him,  and  when  he  read  the  letter  himself,  he 
seemed  astonished  and  disturbed,  and  frequently  exclaimed  : 
"  I  obtain  not  all  and  can  do  nothing  ;  it  is  then  done  with 
altogether."  When  Warsewitz  requested  to  know  his  pleas 
ure  respecting  the  wish  contained  in  the  same  letter,  that  a 
church  might  be  opened  for  papists,  the  king  answered  that 


524  HISTORY    OP   THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

he  could  not  grant  anything,  since  the  pope  denied  his  re 
quests. 

The  words  of  the  king  just  quoted,  were  in  themselves, 
in  reality,  a  termination  of  the  question  as  to  a  union  with 
the  Roman  church.  The  errors,  in  consequence  of  which 
he  believed  himself  able  to  execute  anything  as  a  mediator, 
began  to  be  dissipated.  But  his  heart  still  clung  to  Rome, 
and  the  inflexible  conviction  of  the  correctness  of  his  own 
views,  which  is  a  remarkable  feature  in  John's  attempts  at 
reform,  prevented  his  believing  in  a  like  inflexibility  in 
others.  Pie  declared  his  purpose  of  accomplishing  his  in 
tention  to  re-establish  cloisters,  but  asked  permission  of  the 
pope  to  convert  them,  for  a  time,  into  schools  and  hospitals. 
He  wrote  anew  to  Rome  by  his  secretary,  J.  Typotius,  to 
see  if  it  were  possible  to  obtain  the  required  concessions. 

The  language  of  this  letter  shows  that  he  had  no  inten 
tion  to  yield.  Possevin,  it  saj'S,  was  convinced  of  the  rea 
sonableness  of  the  king's  demands ;  he  would  bear  procras 
tination  no  longer.  He  therefore  desires  a  positive  answer 
from  the  pope,  and  desires  that  the  cardinals  would  modify 
their  views  to  the  promotion  of  peace.  The  queen,  also, 
sent  information  to  Rome  of  the  critical  situation  of  affairs 
in  Sweden.  While  the  letter  by  Typotius  was  on  the  way, 
Possevin,  who  early  in  1579  left  Rome  for  Poland,  received 
the  pope's  command  to  return  with  all  speed  to  Sweden, 
where  the  hope  of  success  was  declining,  in  order  to  induce 
the  king  not  to  press  the  conditions  he  persisted  in  with 
such  stubbornness. 

Possevin  went  to  Stockholm  in  a  vessel  sent  for  the  pur 
pose,  where  he  arrived  at  the  close  of  July,  1579,  accompa 
nied  by  Laurentius  Magnus,  who  was  ordained  priest  in 
Prussia,  by  the  Jesuit  Ardulf,  and  by  N.  Mylonius,  already 
known  in  Sweden.  He  now  appeared  in  the  dress  of  his 
order,  because  it  seemed  a  time  to  act  openly,  so  as  to  give 
courage  to  those  whom  he  well  knew  as  concealed  papists. 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  625 

e  day  after  Possevin  landed,  duke  Charles  returned  to 
Sweden,  accompanied  by  his  bride  of  sixteen,  with  the  ani 
mated  spirits  and  joyous  hopes  that  follow  on  the  marriage 
of  a  youthful  pair.  The  duchess  Maria,  granddaughter  of 
the  landgrave  Philip  of  Hesse,  renowned  in  the  history  of 
the  German  Reformation,  and  the  daughter  of  that  Louis 
VI.  of  the  Palatinate  who  established  in  his  land  the  Lu 
theran  confession,  though  it  both  before  and  after  his  reign 
yielded  to  Calvinism,  became  the  protectress  of  the  protest- 
ants,  as  the  queen  was  of  the  papists. 

On  his  arrival  in  Sweden,  Possevin  found  his  cause  in  a 
worse  condition  than  he  expected.  The  king  was  alarmed 
by  the  menacing  attitude  of  the  protestants,  both  within 
and  without  the  land.  The  revolt  of  the  Belgians  against 
king  Philip's  religious  persecution,  appeared  to  him  a  fear 
ful  warning.  His  disquiet  was  kept  alive  by  many  of  the 
lords  of  his  council.  Chytrteus  had,  it  is  probable  with 
an  object  in  view  rather  than  inconsiderately,  dedicated  to 
the  king  a  new  edition  of  his  history  of  the  Augsburg  con 
fession,  and  in  this  dedication  had  praised  king  Gustavus  L, 
who  early  embraced  and  faithfully  protected  the  pure  doc 
trine,  and  had  expressed  his  hope  and  satisfaction  that  the 
son  was  like  the  father.  This  book  was  circulated  over  all 
Sweden,  as  was  also  the  discourse  of  the  same  author  on 
the  state  of  the  Greek  church,  which  awakened  the  deepest 
attention  from  its  assertion,  that  this  church  had  no  sacri 
ficial  offering,  no  invocation  of  saints,  that  the  Lord's  Sup 
per  was  administered  there  in  both  kinds,  and  priests  al 
lowed  to  marry. 

Possevin  confessed  in  the  writings  of  Chytraeus  and  his 
followers,  his  own  most  dangerous  foes,  who  withered  the 
fruits  of  his  former  efforts.  He  made  fruitless  attempts  to 
gain  over  this  man.  Klosterlasse  had  not  been  able  to 
recover  the  king's  confidence.  The  Spanish  king's  am 
bassador,  F.  Erasso,  who  entered  Stockholm  in  great 


526  HISTORY    OF   THE   ECCLESIASTICAI 

splendor,  distributed  alms,  gave  largely  to  the  college  of  the 
grey  monks'  holm,  and  whose  house  and  Romish  chapel 
were  frequented  by  many  of  the  nobility,  also  lost  the 
royal  favor,  if  he  was  not  even  put  under  arrest.  The  cause 
of  this,  was  the  suspicion  that  he  had  an  eye  to  the  Swedish 
crown.  Some  Swedes  who  openly  professed  themselves 
papists,  were  imprisoned,  and  the  king  attended  the  Lutheran 
churches  as  assiduously  as  he  did  at  any  time  before. 

When  Possevin  came  to  Stockholm,  the  king  was  staying 
at  Upsala,  where  the  former  was  soon  summoned.  Here  he 
appeared  as  ambassador  from  the  emperor  and  many  other 
princes.  From  Philip  of  Spain  he  tendered  a  considerable 
sum  of  money,  to  aid  in  the  work  of  conversion  of  Sweden. 
The  king  had  till  now  hoped  for  some  concession  from  the 
pope,  but  when  he  found  himself  deceived  in  his  expectation, 
he  let  Possevin  understand  that  nothing  further  could  be 
done. 

Possevin  with  his  coadjutors  remained  a  year  in  Sweden. 
Their  object  was  to  recruit  as  many  youths  as  possible  for 
the  Jesuit  seminaries,  to  strengthen  in  their  faith  those 
who  belonged  to  the  Roman  church  or  were  converted,  to 
sow  the  seed  of  future  conversion,  and  by  perseverance  en 
deavor  to  overcome  John's  obstinacy  and  fears. 

Immediately  on  the  arrival  of  Possevin,  his  drag-nets 
were  put  out  to  catch  eleves  for  the  seminaries,  for  which 
purpose  any  express  condition  of  their  becoming  converts 
to  the  Roman  church  was  avoided.  The  good  condition 
of  the  Jesuit  institutions  made  it  a  desirable  thing  to  many 
parents  to  iind  there  situations  for  their  sons.  The  suc 
cess  was  such,  that  in  the  autumn  twenty  young  men  were 
sent  off.  The  nuns  of  "VVadsten  were  encouraged  by 
Possevin  to  procure  from  among  their  relatives  four  or  six 
pupils  of  noble  birth,  to  be  sent  out  as  managers  of  a 
seminary  at  Braunsberg.  Many  were  sent  afterward. 
Possevin  carried  fifteen  with  him  on  his  second  return, 


REFORMATION   IN    SWEDEN*  527 

and  without  counting   those  who   had  previously  gone  to 
I  Rome,  the  whole  number  amounted  to  fifty. 

Of  these   young  persons,  many  from   sickness  or  other 

I  causes,  and  with  permission  of  the  Jesuits,  returned  to  their 

I  native  country.     Others  came  home  at  a  later  period  of  life, 

!  but  attached  themselves  to   the  new  order   of  things.     A 

large  number  lost  for  ever  their  fatherland.     Among  those 

who  soon  returned,  were  the  aforenamed  Per  Brask,  who, 

in  1579,  had  been  sent  to   Rome,  and  Erik  Falk,  son  of 

the  deceased  bishop  of  Linkoping.     Another,  Lars  Eriksson, 

who  accompanied  the  first  exportation  made  by  Klosterlasse, 

returned  in  1579,  openly  denounced  the   infidelity  of  the 

Roman  church  and  its  management  of  the  German  college, 

and  occasioned  Possevin  and  his  coadjutors  much  annoyance 

and  vexation,   when  they  endeavored,  though  in  vain,  to 

silence  him. 

An  important  object  of  the  Roman  mission  was  to 
strengthen  in  their  faith  those  who  belonged  to  the  Roman 
church.  The  centre  of  these  cares  was  queen  Catharine, 
through  whom  this  missionary  field  was  opened.  Now, 
surrounded  by  Jesuits,  she  became  herself  more  active.  But 
when  her  term  of  life,  worn  by  sickness,  seemed  near  its 
close,  and  she  herself  was,  therefore,  not  to  be  taken  into 
the  account,  her  own  zeal  and  that  of  herself  and  mis 
sionaries,  failing  in  the  hope  of  gaining  the  husband,  was 
directed  to  her  children,  especially  the  heir  to  the  crown. 
To  save  them  to  the  Roman  church  was  a  prime  object  of 
that  zeal.  The  looseness  of  religious  principles  in  which 
king  John  had  thought  this  heir,  now  thirteen  years  of 
age,  should  be  brought  up,  aided  the  work  of  turning  his 
youthful  mind  in  favor  of  his  mother's  views.  When  the 
father  required  him  to  attend  the  liturgic  service,  Sigismund 
refused  with  a  firmness  which  provoked  the  king  to  inflict 
corporeal  punishment  on  his  obstinate  son.  John's  dis 
pleasure  extended  to  the  Jesuits,  whose  success  in  the  case 


628  HISTORY    OF   THE   ECCLESIASTICAL 

became,  through  God's  wonderful  providence,  the  means  of 
rescuing  protestantism,  when  a  way  was  opened  for  Gustavus 
Adolphus  the  great  to  the  Swedish  throne. 

Fossevin  was  at  this  tinue  active  in  Sweden,  furnished 
with  extensive  powers  and  with  briefs  of  indulgence  for 
those  who  believed  and  those  who  should  be  converted  to 
the  papal  faith.  After  confession,  the  Lord's  Supperwas 
administered  to  those  who  openly  or  secretly  professed  their 
attachment  to  the  Roman  church.  Among  the  latter  were 
Nils  Brask,  now  burgomaster  of  Stockholm,  and  count  Per 
Brahe.  Of  the  latter  it  may  be  observed,  that  his  inclina 
tions  undoubtedly  leaned  to  the  faith  of  Rome,  which  he 
regarded  as  consonant  with  the  Catholicism  expressed  in 
the  ordinantia  and  liturgy.  But  that  he  formally  joined 
the  ranks  of  Rome  wants  proof,  unless  his  making  con 
fession,  in  1579,  before  the  court  chaplains  of  the  queen, 
and  receiving  the  eucharist  from  their  hands,  may  be  so 
considered. 

This  is  said  to  have  been  done  by  many  of  the  chief 
persons  of  the  court,  though  without  the  king's  knowledge, 
and  without  their  being  therefore  considered  as  having 
lapsed  to  Rome,  the  king  himself  having  in  the  previous 
year  acted  in  the  same  manner  without  being  a  decided 
convert.  The  manner  in  which  the  Lord's  Supper  was 
administered  prevented  attention  from  being  fastened  on 
the  difference  between  the  faith  of  the  two  churches. 
Possevin,  for  example,  and  we  presume  the  other  Jesuits 
also,  employed  under  the  name  of  ablution,  and  as  an  old 
custom,  the  trifling  trick  of  giving  the  communicants  im 
mediately  after  administering  the  bread,  wine  mixed  with 
water  thereby  to  rinse  the  tiread.  This  was  not  given  from 
the  same  cup  out  of  which  the  priest  received  the  wine, 
and  it  is  probable  that  a  great  number  of  the  recipients 
wist  not  but  that  they  were  taking  the  body  and  blood  of 
Christ  under  both  bread  and  wine. 


SWEDEN.  529 


A  special  object  of  Possevin's  cares  was  the  cloister  of 
Wadsten,  "  that  blooming  garden  inclosed  in  a  forest  of 
heresies."  The  other  remnants  of  the  monastic  institutions 
were  of  no  account.  Nadendal  was  not  again  to  bloom, 
although  the  king  furnished  a  project  for  the  support  of 
the  buildings  and  nuns,  and  queen  Catharine  encouraged  the 
nuns  that  remained,  by  virtue  of  the  decree  of  the  bishops 
in  1575  for  restoring  cloisters,  to  adopt  as  many  young 
girls  as  possible,  to  be  nurtured  in  good  works  and  charity, 
in  the  faith  of  the  apostolic  and  catholic  church,  according 
to  the  institutes  and  rules  of  their  predecessors  and  abbesses. 
The  queen  promised  to  provide  for  the  -expenses. 

The  eyes  of  Possevin  were  particularly  directed  to  Wad' 
sten,  whose  nuns,  when  compelled  to  attend  the  Lutheran 
service,  protected  themselves  from  its  effects  by  the  pre 
caution  recommended  to  them  by  the  abbess,  of  stopping 
their  cars  with  wax.  This  institution  seemed  to  him 
wonderfully  preserved  by  God,  as  the  only  Noah's  ark  in 
the  north,  to  restore  the  seed  of  Catholicism,  well-nigh 
drowned  by  the  Hood  of  heresy.  He  directed  that  the 
number  of  nuns  should  be  augmented,  and  himself  conse 
crated  some  new  ones,  even  against  the  will  of  their  kins 
folk.  They  were  incited  to  adopt  girls,  to  be  trained  in 
letters,  and  be  indoctrinated  in  the  Roman  faith. 

But  even  here  the  old  faith  was  recast  in  th3  spirit  of 
the  new  times.  The  nuns  and  the  priests  were  in  future 
to  be  pledged  to  the  creed  of  Trent.  The  catechism  of 
Canisius  and  a  book  of  devotion  were  left,  of  which  every 
nun  was  to  write  out  a  copy.  It  was  expected  that  the 
priests  of  the  cloister  would,  by  manoeuvring,  be  able  to 
found  the  like  establishments  for  the  new  popish  church  in 
Sweden,  or  be  themselves  of  the  number  who  were  to  go 
as  missionaries  into  other  lands.  The  much  frequented 
school  of  Wadsten,  where  the  teacher  was  a  secret  papist, 
was  taken  into  account.  Wadsten,  in  a  word,  was  to  be 

23 


530  HISTORY    OF    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

the  centre  of  the  work  of  conversion  in  the  land,  especially 
as  the  prospect  of  establishing  a  Jesuit  college  in  Stock 
holm  became  more  dark..  This  monastery  was  the  more 
deserving  of  watchful  and  tender  attention,  as  the  institu 
tion  and  its  abbess  at  this  time  enjoyed  the  special  favor 
of  both  the  king  and  the  queen.* 

The  more  the  hope  of  king  John's  decided  conversion 
disappeared,  with  the  more  unrcservedncss  did  the  Jesuits 
address  themselves  to  his  people,  to  sow  at  least  the  seed 
of  a  future  harvest.  Mylonius  preached  in  Germany,  in 
the  chapel  which  the  king  allowed  Possevin  to  open  in  his 
house,  and  Possevin  administered  the  Lord's  Supper.  At 
Upsala,  where  Possevin  with  his  company  stayed  some 
weeks,  there  was  less  opening  for  the  activity  of  the  Jesuits, 
which,  however,  called  forth  the  opposition  of  its  professors 
and  priests.  A  severe  pestilence  which  raged  at  Stockholm, 
in  the  autumn  of  1579,  promoted  their  plans,  as  the  king 
with  the  court  and  queen's  chaplains  removed  to  Westeras, 
arid  the  clergy  were  less  mindful  of  watching  the  steps  of 
the  Roman  missionaries,  to  whom  the  burgomaster  Brask 
was  a  friend  and  patron.  It  was  at  this  time  that  Sigis- 
mund  was,  while  staying  at  Westeras,  completely  fixed  by 
Warsewitz  in  his  attachment  to  the  Roman  church. 

A  portion  of  the  Jesuits,  among  whom  was  Possevin 
himself,  left  Stockholm,  and  took  up  their  abode  at  Lindo 
in  the  parish  of  Lofo,  at  which  place  the  king  gave  them 
a  college,  and  afterward  the  queen  her  property  at  Torfve- 

*  The  abbess,  from  the  year  1553,  was  Catherine  Gylta,  descended  from 
one  of  the  most  illustrious  families  in  the  land.  King  John  and  she  were 
walking  in  the  garden  of  the  convent,  in  an  avenue  shaded  by  trees.  The 
king  asked  her,  if  a  longing  for  marriage  and  the  world's  life  did  not 
sometimes  arise  in  the  hearts  of  the  sisters.  She  answered,  that  as  they 
could  not  hinder  the  birds  flying  over  their  garden,  but  could  prevent  them 
building  their  nests — so  they  could  not  prevent  such  thoughts  from  hovering 
over  their  hearts,  but  they  could  prevent  those  thoughts  from  nestling 
there. 


REFORMATION   IN    SWEDEN.  531 

sund,  the  present  Drottningholm,  where  they  greatly  enlarged 
their  house,  as  a  protection  from  the  pestilence.  During 
their  stay  at  Lindo,  they  instructed,  by  means  of  an  inter 
preter,  the  peasants  in  the  catechism,  and  read  the  litany 
and  prayers,  which  sentence  by  sentence  were  translated 
into  Swedish.  They  endeavored  to  give  while  there  con 
solation  to  the  dying,  probably  using  an  interpreter,  or  in 
houses  where  their  foreign  speech  was  understood.  When 
they  withdrew  from  this  place  Klosterlasse  was  left  behind, 
on  whose  great  eloquence  and  knowledge  of  the  tongue  of 
the  country  much  hope  was  built.  The  catechism  of  the 
Jesuit  Canisius  had  been  translated  into  Swedish,  and 
fifteen  hundred  copies  of  it  were  dispersed,  with  a  great 
number  of  German  prayer  books.  In  February,  1580, 
Possevin  and  his  followers  were  summoned  to  Wadsten, 
where  the  king  and  the  court  had  gone  to  attend  a  diet  that 
was  to  assemble  in  that  town.  They  remained  in  East 
Gothland,  "Wadsten,  Linkoping,  and  parts  adjacent,  and 
labored  to  spread  the  popish  doctrines  until  they  left 
Sweden,,  the  same  yenr,  in  the  month  of  August. 

But  their  success  corresponded  not  with  their  expectations 
or  their  efforts.  Possevin  had,  he  writes  to  Warsewitz  on 
November  29,  1579,  received  information  of  the  missions 
of  the  Jesuits  in  Brazil.  They  had  in  one  year  converted 
five  thousand  men,  "and  what  have  we  effected  here?  We 
are  in  truth  their  antipodes." 

Possevin  comforts  himself,  that  the  jubilee  which  the 
Jesuits  held  at  Westeras,  November  1,  1579,  had  borne 
good  fruit.  This  fruit,  which  was  confined  to  the  court 
alone,  appears  only  in  the  entire  conversion  and  first  com 
munion  of  Sigismund.  In  Stockholm  nineteen  persons,  who 
were  previously  numbered  among  the  papists,  had,  at  the 
time  of  the  jubilee,  recoived  the  Roman  church  sacrament. 
During  the  devastation  made  by  the  epidemical  disease,  the 
dying  applied  chiefly  to  the  Lutheran  priests.  The  Jesuits 


532  HISTORY    OF    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

could  assign  no  better  reason  for  this,  than  that  it  was  done 
for  the  sake  of  being  buried  and  having  preaching  over  the 
dead  body. 

Success  was  at  this  time  expected  from  Klosterlasse's 
labors.  Some  came  to  hear  him  preach,  but  though  he 
admonished  them  to  come  to  the  sacrament  of  confession, 
not  one  confessed  to  him.  "  So  deeply,"  exclaims  Possevin 
in  his  astonishment,  "  have  the  roots  of  heretical  insensi 
bility  struck."  In  Wadsten,  on  Easter,  1580,  there  were 
eighteen  communicants,  in  which  number  the  court,  mem 
bers  of  the  cloister,  and  the  Jesuits,  are,  probably,  to  be 
counted.  In  Linkoping  they  had  some  women  to  commu 
nicate  with  them,  and  it  was  resolved  that  these  were  no 
more  to  seek  absolution  or  the  Lord's  Supper  at  the  hands 
of  Lutheran  priest1?. 

The  activity  of  Klosterla?se  had  a  different  result  from 
what  was  expected.  The  hatred,  which,  from  the  beginning 
almost  of  his  career,  was  felt  toward  the  disguised  Jesuit 
and  his  college,  was  exalted  to  its  height,  when  he  threw 
off  his  mask ;  and  in  the  spring  of  1580  there  took  place  a 
riot,  directed  against  the  college,  whose  buildings  were  well- 
nigh  being  set  on  fire,  and  whose  occupants  were  driven 
out.  Order  was  restored  and  the  rioters  were  punished, 
but  the  king  forbade  Klosterlasse  to  have  any  concern  with 
the  school,  banished  him  from  Stockholm,  and  ordered  him 
to  confine  himself  to  Lindo  or  Torfvesund.  He  remained 
in  a  state  of  inaction,  till  he  with  Possevin  left  Sweden. 
His  double  dealing  with  the  king  deprived  him  of  even  this 
degree  of  protection,  when  he  began  to  abuse  in  speech  and 
writing  the  liturgy  he  had  before  so  warmly  defended. 

In  Stockholm  the  zeal  for  conversion  on  the  part  of  the 
Jesuits  had  the  same  result.  Possibly  also  the  influence  of 
duke  Charles  or  his  court,  where  there  were  Calvinists,  and 
the  death  of  pastor  Nils  Olai,  approximated  the  Lutherans 
and  Calvinists  to  each  other,  so  that  on  Easter,  1580,  they 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  533 

partook  of  the  Lord's  Supper  together.  Possevin  regards 
this  union  as  the  cause  of  the  riot  which  drove  away  Klos- 
terlasse,  for  which,  however,  reasons  enough  before  that 
were  to  be  found. 

The  illusion  would  be  unaccountable  by  which  the  Jesuits 
believed  that  they  could  effect  anything  in  Sweden,  where 
almost  all  were  against  them,  did  not  their  whole  history, 
with  the  exception  of  their  first  exertions  and  the  long-con 
tinued  consequences,  testify  that  their  fate  was — it  was  the 
curse  of  their  false  principles — to  live  in  illusory  and  deceit 
ful  hope,  and  to  destroy  their  own  work  by  precipitate 
measures.  They  speak  of  the  Swedish  people's  inclination 
for  their  faith,  without  understanding  and  comprehending 
the  good  fruits  preserved  and  rendered  firm  by  the  storms 
of  the  warily-conducted  Reformation,  and  they  must  ac 
knowledge  that  among  this  people  they  could  make  but  a 
very  small  number  of  proselytes.  They  speak  of  the  lean 
ing  of  Sweden's  priests  to  the  Roman  faith  and  public 
worship,  without  comprehending  the  many  national  char 
acteristics  here  maintained,  without  comprehending,  as 
foreigners  cannot,  the  old  Swedish  simplicity  and  modesty, 
which,  for  a  while,  give  way  before  conceited  disapproval 
of  home  customs  and  relations,  until  sense  and  after-thought 
again  restore  to  the  mind  its  elasticity.  They  speak  of  many 
friends  within  the  senatorial  council  of  the  kingdom,  that 
same  council  which  at  this  very  time,  and  during  the  riot  of 
Stockholm,  made  to  king  John  serious  remonstrances,  as- 
surin"1  him  that  both  within  and  without  the  land  he  was 

O 

suspected  of  desiring  to  introduce  old  and  new  errors. 
They  then  advised  him,  to  declare  that  he  merely  aimed  at 
a  general  union,  to  reinstate  the  priests  who  had  been 
removed  on  account  of  their  religion,  to  take  heed  that  the 
crown  prince  of  Sweden,  Sigismund,  was  nurtured  in  the 
pure  faith.  In  these  remonstrances  the  very  men  took  part, 
who  are  most  claimed  by  the  Jesuits  from  among  the 


534  HISTORY   OF   THE   ECCLESIASTICAL 

council  of  the  kingdom,  Per  Bralie,  Nils  Gyllenstjerna, 
Hogenskild  Bjelke,  and  Erik  Sparre.  The  Jesuits  speak 
of  the  great  advances  they  made  with  king  John,  .but  they 
soon  give  him  up  as  the  sole  cause  of  the  miscarriage  of 
their  projects,  a  judgment  as  little  reliable  as  that  which 
made  them  believe  the  king  himself  an  easy  or  a  possible 
conquest. 

On  Possevin's  second  coming  to  Sweden,  lie  found  king 
John  determinately  unwilling  to  deviate  from  the  explana 
tions  he  had  already  given.  Possevin's  influence,  and  the 
esteem  entertained  for  him,  much  softened  the  mind  of  the 
king.  But  Possevin's  representations  could  not  bend  the 
king,  nor  could  Warsewitz  effect  anything.  The  latter, 
during  the  king's  stay  at  Westerns,  received  from  the  former 
written  directions  how  he  could  best  work  on  the  king's 
mind,  even  the  words,  which  for  that  purpose  he  was  to 
put  into  the  mouth  of  the  queen,  A.  Lorich,  and  others 
to  be  depended  on,  including,  though  with  less  assurance, 
Per  Brahe,  Erik  Sparre,  and  the  secretary  Henrik  Mattson.* 
In  vain  had  Possevin  more  than  once  begged  that  a  church 
might  be  allowed  the  confessors  of  the  Roman  faith.  The 
almost  scornful  answer  was,  that  this  could  not  be  granted 
unless  the  pope  would  grant  the  required  dispensation,  or 
in  Rome  grant  a  church  to  the  Lutherans. 

During  the  time  of  the  pestilence  some  of  the  youths 
belonging  to  the  college,  who  had  turned  Romanists,  died. 
But  the  confessors  of  the  Roman  church  had  no  place  of 
burial,  and  it  was  not  permitted  them  to  bury  their  dead 
according  to  the  usages  of  their  church  in  any  of  the  usual 
graveyards.  They  were,  therefore,  buried  by  Klosterlasse 
in  the  grey  monks'  holm,  secretly,  at  midnight. 

King  John,  already  dissatisfied  with   the  pope,  was  still 

*  As  one  of  the  means  of  working  on  the  mind  of  the  king,  Possevia 
recommended  to  impress  on  him  that  his  fears  would  render  him  the 
laughing  stock  of  the  protestant  princeg. 


REFORMATION    IX    SWEDEX.  535 

further  irritated  in  consequence  of  Sigismund's  conversion  by 
the  Jesuits  to  the  church  of  Rome,  and  his  refusal  to  take 
part  in  the  liturgic  service,  and  they  experienced  not  only  hard 
words,  but  threats  of  scourging,  imprisonment,  and  exile. 
The  king's  wrath  was  quieted,  but  not  his  dissatisfaction,  and 
when  he  summoned  Possevin  and  his  coadjutors  to  East 
Gothland,  his  intention  was  to  allow  the  visitation  of 
Wadsten  by  the  papal  legate,  but  no  less  to  prevent  the 
Jesuits  in  his  absence  from  having  free  play  in  the  rest  of 
the  land,  and  thus  creating  scandal.  The  king,  who  hoped 
to  constrain  Rome  into  granting  the  desired  dispensations, 
could  not  wish  to  be  convinced  that  the  work  of  conversion 
could  go  on  without  them.  This  Possevin  perceived.  "I 
find,"  he  writes  to  Warsewitz,  on  November  14,  1579, 
"that  if  the  king  is  grieved  for  anything,  it  is  that  he  sees 
the  cause  has  great  success."  That  the  king  harbored  a 
special  fear  of  their  success  is  not  likely.  Possevin  finds 
proof  of  this,  for  he  warns  them  not  to  trust  in  Per  Brahe 
and  Erik  Sparre,  of  whom  he  had  before  spoken  very  well. 
A  law  of  the  council  at  Wadsten,  in  1580,  shows  that  the 
king  more  rightly  estimated  these  men  than  did  the  Jesuits. 
The  king  dissuaded  persons  who  professed  themselves  in 
clined  to  go  over  to  the  church  of  Rome.  They  ought,  at 
least,  to  wait  till  it  was  seen  whether  the  use  of  the  cup  in 
the  Lord's  Supper  would  be  allowed.  Sigismund's  first 
communion  must  have'  taken  place  without  his  father's 
knowledge.  At  Wadsten,  the  king,  in  presence  of  the  pa 
pal  legate,  permitted  the  marriage  according  to  the  Lutheran 
liturgy,  of  Pontus  de  la  Gardie,  with  his  natural  daughter 
Sophia  Gyllenjelm.  The  ceremony  was  performed  in  the 
cloistral  church  restored  to  the  nuns  in  1577,  and  created  no 
little  scandal  to  the  papists,  who  regarded  it  as  a  profanation 
of  that  church,  and  therefore  considered  a  misfortune  which 
happened  during  the  service,  by  the  falling  down  of  the  gal 
lery,  as  a  judgment  from  heaven. 


536  HISTORY    OF    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

The  hope  of  the  Jesuits  to  lay  Sweden  at  the  feet  of  the 
Roman  pope,  miscarried,  and  all  the  blame  was  laid  on  the 
king.  Had  he,  as  they  fancied,  possessed  a  resolute  will, 
and  left  them  free  hands,  Sweden  would  have  been  con 
verted,  for,  "  it  is  a  simple  and  good  people,  which,  enough  to 
make  one  weep,  follows  in  lite  and  death  its  leaders  and 
teachers,  just  as  they  happen  to  come."  The  Swedish  peo 
ple  have  indeed  accounted  this  fidelity  their  commendation, 
but  in  a  higher  sense,  as  directed  of  free  will  to  those  high 
and  noble  aims  for  which  the  heart  of  a  people  ought  to  beat. 
That  their  fidelity  was  so  directed,,  just  such  a  case  as  the 
present  shows.  The  same  John  III.  could,  not withstanding* 
his  resolute  will,  as  little  bring  his  liturgical  reform  into 
operation,  as  could  the  Jesuits  establish  the  Roman  church, 
and  Sigismund,  who  gave  the  Jesuits  free  hands  and  wished 
their  success,  was  obliged  in  the  attempt  to  sacrifice  the 
royal  crown  of  Sweden. 

The  attempt  which  was  now  made,  had  called  forth  in  man^ 
minds  the  remembrance  of  their  fathers'  faith.  The  old 
were  reminded  of  the  customs  and  usages  of  their  youth  j 
the  younger  generation  could  recall  but  little  of  what  in  the 
homes  of  their  childhood  was  acknowledged  and  practised. 
This  faith  showed  itself  not  to  be  dead,  but  alive,  ingrained, 
and  strong.  From  this  remembrance,  the  Jesuits  hoped  a 
future  .harvest  out  of  the  seed  now  sown. 

Meanwhile,  there  was  for  the  present  nothing  more  to 
perform.  King  John  was  content  to  be  free  of  the  mission 
aries  who  seemed  to  hate  the  peace  of  his  kingdom,  and 
were  a  hinderance  to  his  own  plans.  He  wished,  if  he  did 
not  order,  their  departure,  and  they  themselves  regarded 
farther  attempts  as  fruitless.  On  the  10th  of  August,  1580,. 
Posse vin  departed  from  Stegeborg,  and  left  Sweden  for  the 
second  and  last  time,  carrying  with  him  Klosterlasse,  who 
was  summoned  to  Rome  before  the  general  of  his  order,  to 
clear  himself  from  the  not  unfounded  accusation  of  having 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  537 

by  his  double  dealing  ruined  the  cause.  Mylonius,  who 
afterward  obtained,  through  Sigismund,  a  priest's  charge  at 
Dantzic,  and  all  the  other  Roman  priests,  took  their  depart 
ure  at  the  same  time,  with  the  exception  of  five,  Warsewitz, 
"Wisowsky,  J.  Ardulf.  who  stayed  with  queen  Catherine, 
and  an  unnamed  individual  who  remained  at  Stockholm 
to  attend  upon  the  papists  there.  The  aged  Laurentius 
Magnus  also  remained  in  Sweden,  having  a  pension  of  two 
hundred  ducats  from  the  pope,  and  as  it  seems,  was  now 
admitted  into  the  cloister  of  "Wadsten. 

The  attempt,  then,  to  recover  the  Swedish  church  to  the 
obedience  of  Rome,  had  failed,  although  begun  with  brilliant 
hopes.  At  first,  after  king  John's  death  these  hopes  for  a 
short  hour  revived. 

23* 


538  HISTOKV   OF    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 


CHAPTER    VI. 

THE  COMPLETE  BREACH  BETWEEN  THE  LITURGIC,  LUTHERAN   AND 
ROMAN    CATHOLIC    PARTIES. 

(UNTIL  THE  DEATH,  1585,  OF  BISHOP  NILS  OLAI,  OF  STRANGNESS.) 

AT  the  beginning  of  the  connection  between  king  John 
and  the  men  of  the  Roman  church,  each  party  calculated  on 
an  easy  victory;  just  in  proportion  as  they  fancied  them 
selves  to  be  near  each  other,  could  neither  understand  the 
other.  The  king  could  imagine  nothing  else  than  that  the 
papists  should  be  ready  to  extend  to  him  the  hand  of  broth 
erly  union,  if  not  wholly  turn  to  him  where  he  stood  on  a 
stand  point  which  he  conceived  that  church  to  have  never 
denied  or  rejected.  He  let  slip  from  his  memory  two  im 
portant  circumstances.  One  of  them,  which  the  papal 
church  soon  learned,  was,  that  she  could,  during  the  ferment 
of  the  Reformation,  only  save  herself  by  holding  fast  to  the 
position  she  had  at  the  time  of  the  outbreak  ;  purifying  her 
self  from  the  worst  abuses,  and  quickening  her  life  by  piet 
ism.  The  other  was,  that  the  papal  church  never  actually 
stood  where  John  stood.  At  the  period,  about  the  fourth 
century,  which  for  John  was  to  be  the  ecclesiastical  pattern, 
he  could  find  nothing  of  popery  in  the  modern  sense,  and 
he  would  not  receive  it  as  developed  by  the  continued  in 
fluence  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  At  that  period,  too,  there  was 
found  no  supreme  prince  within  the  church,  and  he  there 
fore  could  not  comprehend  the  preaching  of  the  Jesuits  re 
specting  the  kind  of  obedience  he  owed  as  a  son  of  the 
church. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  Jesuits  deemed  incomprehensible 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  539 

the  obstinate  opposition  to  them  of  a  man  whose  views 
seemed  so  nearly  allied  to  their  own.  Some  believed  that 
he  broke  off  the  connection  from  fear  ;  others,  that  he  acted 
with  the  dishonest  cunning  of  a  selfish  man,  merely  to 
obtain  the  good  will  of  Rome  in  gaining  possession  of  his 
wife's  inheritance.  Some,  more  clear-sighted,  discovered 
the  true  reason  that  the  king,  "  who  esteemed  himself  wiser 
than  all  others,  had  built  up  a  religious  reform  little  differ 
ing  from  the  Roman,  and  therefore  published  his  liturgy, 
and  conceived  he  could  not  wholly  cast  aside  the  pope's  au 
thority." 

The  Jesuits,  who  received  from  the  king  the  assurance 
which  abated  their  sorrows,  that  he  never  could  become  a 
Lutheran  or  Calvinist,  but  at  the  same  time  the  distressing 
information  that  he  contemplated  seeking  a  union  with  the 
Greek  church,  must  have  seen  how  perseveringly,  even  un 
der  their  watchful  eyes,  he  labored  for  the  reception  of  the 
liturgy.  This  labor  became  the  more  earnest  as  he  saw 
more  clearly  the  hopelessness  of  a  union  with  Rome.  Meet 
ing  the  views  of  the  Jesuits,  he  had  allowed  them  to  believe 
that  he  regarded  their  views  as  preparative  to  a  union  with 
Rome,  #.nd  that  he  "  was  practising  a  device  to  gain  over 
his  people."  But  the  Rome  he  sought  was,  as  we  have 
often  remarked,  not  the  Rome  of  the  Jesuits  and  papists  of 
the  latter  half  of  the  sixteenth  century. 

His  doubt  whether  the  Swedish  church  had  a  legitimate 
priesthood,  induced  him,  when  Klosterlasse  left  Sweden,  to 
try  if  the  latter,  who  was  thought  to  be  a  temporizing  man, 
might  not  be  drawn  into  the  views  of  the  king.  He  pro 
posed  to  Klosterlasse  to  remain  here,  on  condition  he  did 
not  attempt  to  spread  the  doctrines  the  king  disapproved. 
Although  this  proposal  miscarried,  the  king  persevered  in 
avoiding  a  nearer  relation  with  the  priests  of  the  Swedish 
church.  His  father  confessor  was  one  Martinus,  who  had 
been  a  Roman  and  afterward  a  Lutheran  priest,  but  now  was 


540  IIISTOKY    OF    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

attached  to  the  liturgy.  The  king  wished  this  man,  who 
lived  in  separation  from  his  wife,  to  receive  absolution  from 
Possevin  for  defection  from  popery  ;  but  when  it  was  refused 
by  the  legate,  the  king  caused  Martinus  to  be  absolved  by  a 
priest  of  the  cloister  of  "Wadsten. 

After  the  project  of  union  had  come  to  the  ground,  the 
parties  stood  completely  sundered  from  each  other.  The 
papists  soon  had  no  public  worship  in  the  land,  except  in 
queen  Catherine's  court,  where  preaching  was  held  only  in 
the  Polish  language.  The  priest  who  remained  at  Stock' 
holm,  at  Possevin' s  departure,  was  obliged  soon  after  to  leave 
the  country  in  consequence  of  a  riot  in  Stockholm ;  so  that 
of  the  Jesuits,  Warsewitz  and  Ardulf  alone  were  left. 

The  Roman  confession  was  embraced  by  the  young  heir 
to  the  throne,  and  by  king  Gustavus'  daughter,  the  margra 
vine  Cecilia,  who.for  a  while  lived  a  widow  in  Sweden,  but 
in  1579  left  it  altogether.  The  chief  men  of  Sweden  who 
approximated  to  the  views  of  Possevin,  stopped  short  within 
the  liturgical  church.  Per  Brahe,  Nils  Gyllenstjerna,  Goran 
Gera,  Hogenskild  Bjelke,  and  Erik  Sparre,  subscribed  on 
the  9th  of  February,  1580,  all  the  deliberations  of  the  coun 
cil.  Brahe,  who  died  in  1591,  and  Gera,  who  died  in  1588, 
were  regarded  as  having  breathed  their  last  in  the  bosom  of 
the  evangelical  church.  Of  the  three  others,  neither  was 
among  those  whose  defection  to  Rome  was,  in  1595,  avowed. 
Bjelke  declared,  in  his  last  confession,  that  he  had  not  in 
tended  the  introduction  of  popery.  Possevin  wrote,  some 
time  before  his  departure  from  Sweden,  to  Sparre,  of  his 
having  once  expected  that  Sparre  would  aid  in  restoring  in 
Sweden  the  old  truth.  Sparre,  therefore,  was  not  a  papist. 

When  the  pope,  in  1581,  was  endeavoring  to  save  some 
threads  of  the  connection  with  Sweden,  which  were  now 
breaking  asunder,  he  wrote  to  Nils  Gyllenstjerna,  and 
praised  his  steadfast  faith,  and  urged  him  to  activity  in  its 
diffusion.  He  did  the  same  to  Pontus  De  La  Gardie, 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  541 

adding  his  thanks  for  the  great  and  important  services 
rendered  Possevin,  and  reminding  him  of  his  promise  to 
assist  king  John  in  his  plans  for  the  catholic  religion. 
There  is  some  hesitancy  in  deciding  whether  this  language 
is  a  reproach,  or  really  meant,  or  pretended  ignorance. 
It  is  the  same  Gyllenstjerna,  whom,  in  1596,  a  Jesuit  calls 
"  a  thorough  biting  foe  of  the  catholics,"  and  the  same 
De  La  Gardie,  of  whom  Possevin  himself  complains  that 
he,  of  all  others,  except  Typotius,  caused  the  work  of  con 
version  to  miscarry,  and  to  the  latest  hour  labored  against 
the  legate's  plans. 

It  may,  in  conclusion,  be  remarked,  that  the  lords 
who  were  accused  at  Linkoping  in  1600,  were  regarded  as 
faulty  in  having  promoted  the  liturgy,  "which  is  an 
entrance  to  popery,"  and  circulated  it  in  the  land,  and  with 
both  threats  and  good  words  constrained  the  clergy  and 
people,  but  these  lords  were  not  accused  of  having  fallen 
into  popery,  which  certainly  would  not  fail  to  have  been 
laid  on  Erik  Sparre's  head,  if  there  had  been  reason  found 
to  do  so. 

The  very  strong  opposition  to  the  papal  church  moulded 
the  Lutheran  such  as  it  existed  at  the  court  of  duke 
Charles,  with  a  leaning  to  Calvinism,  to  which  the  duke 
himself  began  to  be  inclined.  Calvinists  were  staying  at 
his  court, .  and  exorcism  began  to  be  laid  aside  there,  a 
change  contemplated  in  the  Swedish  church  in  king  Erik 
XIV. 's  time,  but  not  at  that  time  acceptable.  The  Cal- 
vinistic  public  worship  was  not  used  there  or  at  Stockholm, 
except  in  private  conventicles,  whose  worshippers  were 
publicly  regarded  as  belonging  to  the  Lutheran  church. 
Pure  Lutheranism  was  professed  by  the  princess  Elizabeth, 
who,  in  1581,  was  married  to  duke  Christopher  of  Mecklen 
burg.  The  Lutheran  public  worship  was  scrupulously 
maintained  in  the  duchy  of  Charles,  as  it  existed  in  the 
time  of  Gustavtis ;  and  the  largest  part  of  the  Swedish  people 


542  HISTORY    OF    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

embraced  it  with  a  seriousness  of  heart,  which  by  the  trial 
it  was  now  passing  through,  made  them  more  and  more 
to  appreciate  its  depth  and  strength. 

Between  popery  and  Lutheranism,  but  with  a  prepon 
derating  inclination  to  the  former,  and  on  the  same  basis 
with  it  stood  "  the  king's  religion"  founded  on  the  ordinantia 
and  liturgy  of  1575.  This  religion  had  in  favor  of  it  the 
outward  show  of  piety,  and  the  license  which  often  covers 
itself  under  the  abused  name  of  protestant  freedom.  It  had 
also  in  its  favor,  a  pretended  agreement  with  the  doctrine 
of  the  fathers,  and  presented  all  the  fascination  of  royal 
favor,  with  its  rich  rewards  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  dis 
couragements  attached  to  the  threats  of  power  on  the  other. 

To  such  an  extent  had  men  in  Sweden  become  divorced 
from  the  Roman  church,  that  a  likeness  to  it  became  the 
liturgy's  most  dangerous  foe.  The  council  of  the  kingdom 
at  Wadsten,  drew  the  king's  attention  to  this  circumstance, 
at  the  same  time  that  their  deliberations  gave  support  to 
his  zeal  for  introducing  the  liturgy,  which  now  under  a 
wider  separation  of  the  two  other  parties  was  more  eagerly 
pressed  than  ever. 

The  next  sacrifice  to  this  zeal  was  bishop  Marten  of 
Linkoping.  In  what  manner  his  opposition  made  difficult 
the  first  recognition  of  the  liturgy  by  the  clergy  in  1577, 
has  already  been  narrated,  and  how  he  and -his  chapter 
afterward  declared  themselves  against  its  introduction.  The 
appearance  of  the  Jesuits  at  Wadsten  and  Linkoping  in 
1580  increased  the  ill  will.  Admonished  by  duty  and 
conscience,  the  bishop  preached  publicly  against  the  pope's 
primacy,  called  him  anti-christ,  watched  the  steps  of  the 
Jesuits  and  endeavored  to  counteract  their  attempts. 

This  open  enmity  to  the  Roman  church  awaked  the  dis 
pleasure  of  the  king,  to  whom  Possevin  complained,  and 
who  still  wished  peace  with  that  church,  if  no  outward 
unity  could  be  effected.  His  displeasure  was  still  more 


INFORMATION   IN    SWEDEN.  543 

increased,  when  the  bishop  included  the  liturgy  in  the  same 
category  of  condemnation.  He  opposed  it  in  speech  and 
writing.  He  declared  that  his  consent  had  been  extorted. 
He  had  not  willingly,  but  with  great  regret  and  pain,  sub 
scribed  the  liturgy  with  an  explanation.  It  was  not  enough 
at  the  council  of  Stockholm,  in  1577,  to  be  willing  to  resign 
office,  but  whoever  did  not  subscribe  was  threatened  with 
being  accused  as  a  traitor  and  insurgent. 

The  king,  while  staying  in  East  Gothland  and  four 
months  in  Linkoping,  perceived  how  little  the  liturgy  had 
in  that  diocese  come  into  use.  He,  therefore,  while  on  his 
visit  at  Linkoping,  issued  from  Wadsten  a  letter,  which 
menaced  the  bishop  and  his  clergy,  that  unless  they  kept  to 
the  liturgy,  they  should  be  looked  upon  as  traitors  and  lose 
their  support.  We  suppose  that  this  letter  was  issued  at  a 
later  date  than  that  of  the  explanation  to  which  the  bishop 
alludes.  But  when,  during  the  negotiations  respecting  the 
liturgy,  the  criticisms  of  an  unfavorable  kind  written  by 
Abraham  Angerman  from  a  protestant  point  of  view,  and 
by  Klosterlasse  and  his  friends  from  a  papistic,  made  their 
appearance,  the  king  found  it  advisable  more  openly  than 
hitherto  had  been  done  to  express  his  disapproval  of  these 
men  and  their  views.  This  was  done  in  a  stringent  edict, 
which,  from  that  time,  and  while  the  Jesuits  were  still  going 
over  the  matter  with  the  king,  was  issued  against  the  op- 
posers  of  the  liturgy. 

The  king  had,  it  is  there  said,  with  dissatisfaction  per 
ceived  that,  although  bishops  and  prelates  by  their  promise 
and  their  subscriptions  had  pledged  themselves  to  introduce 
the  use  of  the  liturgy  into  divine  service  within  the  congre 
gations  of  the  kingdom,  this  pledge  had  been  by  many 
neglected.  The  priests  ought  to  be  constrained  strictly  to 
follow  this  liturgy,  and  not  merely,  to  save  appearances,  the 
preface  be  read,  and  the  rest  left  out.  The  disobedient 
should  lose  all  investitures  and  tithes,  and  be  punished  as 


544  HISTORY    OF    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

perjurers.  The  provosts  were  on  their  court  days  to  take 
a  sworn  assurance  from  the  priests  to  observe  the  liturgy 
in  till  its  parts.  If  any  one  excused  himself,  because  master 
Lars  of  Stockholm  (Klostcrlasse)  had  spread  and  caused  to 
be  spread  writings  which  were  contrary  to  God's  word  and 
the  truth,  the  king  would  give  such  a  one  to  understand 
that  he  did  not  approve  of  these  writings,  whose  author  had 
been  forbidden  to  read  in  the  college  and  to  preach.  He 
had  purged  out  false  doctrines,  and  this  liturgy  had  no 
alliance  with  the  Roman  mass-book.  Master  Abraham  of 
Saltvik  had  also  written  against  the  liturgy,  "  with  silly 
arguments  and  little  correctness."  As  the  king  approved 
neither  the  writings  which  master  Abraham  and  his  party, 
nor  those  which  master  Lars  and  his  followers,  had  put  forth, 
they  and  such  ought  all  to  be  collected  and  burnt  in  the 
king's  chancery.  Whoever  concealed  them  or  spread  them 
should  be  punished  as  a  traitor. 

Some  weeks  later,  when  the  king  had  called  together  the 
clergy  of  the  diocese  of  Linkoping  in  the  city  of  that  name, 
bishop  Marten  was  declared  unworthy  of  his  office,  and 
its  robes  were  taken  off  him  before  the  altar  of  the  cathe 
dral.  Hogenskild  Bjelke  was  commissioned  to  give  the 
people  an  account,  at  the  fair  of  Linkoping,  of  the  reasons 
for  displacing  the  bishop,  and  to  let  them  know  that 
Klosterlasse  and  the  schoolmasters  at  Stockholm  and  Wad- 
Bten  who  had  caused  scandal  should  not  only  be  displaced, 
but  banished  the  kingdom. 

Before  the  assembled  priesthood  of  Linkoping  the  king 
repeated  his  disapproval  of  Klosterlasse  and  Abraham,  and 
his  prohibition  of  their  writings.  They  ought  not  to  be 
lieve,  he  said  to  the  clergy,  that  the  Holy  Ghost  was  con 
fined  to  Wittenberg,  or  Geneva,  or  to  Home  only ;  truth 
could  be  but  one,  and  must  be  sought  for  in  the  writings  of 
the  church  fathers. 

Although  our  information  of  this  meeting  is  but  partial, 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  545 

it  shows  that  even  here  the  king's  will  met  with  contradic 
tion.  Separate  assurances  and  subscriptions  were  not  taken 
of  those  present,  perhaps  in  order  not  to  provoke  a  stronger 
opposition.  But  the  king's  competency  to  regulate  and  give 
order  in  these  matters  had  been  questioned.  On  this  point, 
he  said,  they  touched  him  both  as  a  Christian  and  as  a 
king.  He  had  been  bidden  to  stand  by  the  faith  his  father 
held.  The  king  objected,  that  his  father  might  have  been 
misled.  Not  his  fathers  faith  but  that  of  the  fathers  was 
to  be  followed. 

In  the  year  1580  commences  that  point  of  time  in  the 
history  of  the  liturgic  controversy,  which  was  marked  by 
more  rigid  measures.  As  in  1577,  so  now,  the  king 
adopted  the  expedient  of  sending  agents  into  various  parts 
of  the  land,  either  to  treat  with  the  people  and  present  the 
king's  views,  or  to  ascertain  how  the  liturgy  was  received. 
H.  Bjelke  labored  in  East  Gothland.  But  the  king's  prin 
cipal  assistant  at  this  time  was  his  secretary  Henrik  Matt- 
son,  who  was  directed  this  year  to  provide  a  new  edition 
of  the  liturgy,  from  which  the  Latin  annotations  were  to 
be  removed.  Erik  Stcnbock  and  the  bishop  of  Skara,  were 
ordered  to  treat  with  the  priests  in  West  Gothland,  Knut 
Lilje  with  those  of  Smaland,  and  he  and  John  Henriksson 
with  the  people  assembled  in  1581  at  the  fair  of  Upsala. 
It  was  a  visitation- which,  with  many  and  great  differences, 
may  be  compared  to  that  king  Gustavus  appointed  in 
1540  through  G.  Norman  and  his  assistants.  As  king 
Gustavus  was  led  to  adopt  this  course,  because  he  thought 
the  bishops  did  not  go  forward  with  the  work  of  reforma 
tion,  s'o  now  king  John  llr.  complains,  that  in  his  reform 
"  nothing  was  smoothly  done,"  and  he  resolved  that  the 
cause  should,  on  the  part  of  the  bishops,  be  pressed  forward 
with  activity  and  determination. 

Besides  the  persecution  which  overtook  the  leaders  of  the 
opposition,  and  of  which  more  will  be  said,  John  adopted 


546  HISTORY    OF    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

a  measure  which  shows  to  what  width  he  thought  his  royal 
rights  within  the  church  to  extend.  But  he  pronounced 
beforehand  judgment  on  the  vanity  of  his  own  attempts  ; 
because  all  history  witnesses  that  he  who  thinks  meanly 
of  men,  never  executes  for  humanity  a  work  that  lasts.  It 
is  love  that  wins  fruit-bearing  victory,  but  not  disdain. 
The  measure  to  which  we  have  referred,  was  an  attempt, 
by  the  prohibition  of  tithes,  to  overcome  the  dislike  of  the 
clergy  to  the  liturgy.  The  suppression  in  1527,  and  espe 
cially  in  1544,  of  two  thirds  of  the  tithes  to  the  crown,  was 
connected  with  the  principle,  that  what  was  restored  to 
the  church  was  to  be  considered  an  investiture  from  the 
crown,  and  not  only  was  a  compensation  given  for  the  sup 
pressed  glebe,  but  two  thirds  of  the  tithes  of  the  rent  of  the 
soil  belonging  to  the  priests  was  regarded  as  an  investiture 
of  the  crown.  Not  only  then  \vas  the  holder  dependent 
on  him  who  had  recovered  the  property,  but  the  king  was 
obligated  to  protect  the  rights  of  the  priest  against  the  tithe- 
payers  of  the  thirds.  According  to  a  decree  of  the  year 
1527,  the  right  of  the  clergy  to  tithes  was  so  secured  as  not 
to  be  called  in  question.  But  this  security  was  not  opera 
tive  against  the  principle  that  knew  of  no  right  but  the 
king's  will. 

This  payment,  therefore,  became  for  the  priests,  a  ques 
tion  of  privilege  ;  and  John's  self-will  permitted  him  not  to 
slight  the  exercise  of  power  which  the  state  of  the  case 
offered  him,  as  to  the  affairs  of  the  church  ;  since  for  their  tem 
poral  incomes,  all  parish  priests  were  dependent  on  the 
'king.  The  entire  incomes  of  bishops,  professors,  and  teach 
ers,  were  investitures  of  the  crown.  Promises  of  privileges 
were  the  bait  for  every  change  to  which  the  consent  of  the 
clergy  was  to  be  won.  Fecht  first  gained  their  confidence, 
according  to  Abraham  Angerman's  report,  by  promising, 
among  other  things,  to  procure  greater  privileges  for  them 
from  the  king.  But  the  opposition  made  to  the  king's 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  547 

views,  was  followed  by  the  recall  of  such  privileges.  This 
revocation  was,  from  1580,  extended  by  king  John  to  the 
tithes  of  the  parish  priests. 

A  royal  edict  came  out,  which  threatened  the  withdrawal 
of  tithes  and  all  investitures,  from  the  priests  who  did  not 
follow  the  liturgy  in  public  worship.  No  longer  relying 
upon  the  good  will  of  the  bishops,  or  mistrusting  their 
ability  to  overcome  the  ill  will  of  the  parish  priests,  the 
king  applied  himself  to  his  stewards.  They  were  ordered 
to  stop  the  compensation, -or  other  means  of  support  from 
the  crown,  and  to  sequester  the  tithe  of  unthreshed  «orn 
brought  into  the  barns  of  the  priests,  who  refused  to  follow 
the  liturgy  in  divine  service. 

The  bishops  and  clergy,  it  is  said  at  the  commencement 
of  this  edict,  had  not  abided  by  what  they  had  promised 
respecting  the  liturgy,  or,  as  the  king  expresses  himself,  had 
been  "disobedient  to  him  in  matters  of  religion."  Their 
support,  therefore,  and  the  composition  made  with  them, 
was  recalled,  and  the  parsons  or  pastors  were  forbidden  to 
take  from  the  people,  tithes  of  unthreshed  corn,  as  long  as 
they  would  not  abide  by  the  liturgy,  or  take  an  oath  at  the 
court  of  assize  that  they  used  it,  and  give  a  written  pledge 
to  that  effect. 

The  king  did  not  take  into  account  the  people's  selfish 
ness.  The  tithes  of  unthreshed  corn  were  always  to  be  de 
livered,  and  the  stewards  were  to  permit  its  being  threshed, 
but  not  to  let  the  priests  have  any  before  they  took  the  pre 
scribed  oath.  If  the  stewards  did  not  obey  this  command, 
they  were  themselves  to  repay  the  tithes  they  allowed  to 
the  disobedient  priests.  The  prohibition  was  renewed  over 
the  whole  kingdom,  or  in  special  parts  of  it,  and  was  de 
clared  void  for  particular  districts,  as  soon  as  obedience  was 
shown  to  the  king's  will.  From  Gestrickland  and  Medel- 
pad,  petitions  were  sent  in  for  their  priests,  but  were  re- 
iected  by  the  king,  who  expressed  his  astonishment  that 


548  HISTORY    OF    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

they  should  petition  for  those  who  would  not  accept  the 
order  and  ritual  of  the  mass. 

The  king's  inflexible  determination  to  enforce  the  general 
acceptance  of  the  liturgy,  necessarily  brought  him  into 
unwonted  collision  with  his  brother,  duke  Charles,  and 
made  the  spirit  of  the  chief  persons  opposed  to  the  liturgy 
more  unrelaxing  than  before.  The  duke,  who  was  not  of  a 
disposition  to  trouble  himself  with  cloisters  and  monks,  and 
thought  that  things  more  important  and  necessary  for 
fatherland  might  be  undertaken,  was  as  firm  in  his  opposi 
tion  to  reform  as  the  king  was  to  carry  it  through.  The 
mind  of  the  king  was  particularly  embittered,  when,  from 
1584,  the  duke  not  only  received  into  his  duchy  and  pro 
tection,  the  men  who,  by  their  repugnance  to  the  liturgy, 
drew  upon  them  the  king's  displeasure,  but  invited  to  him 
many  among  the  most  eminent  of  these  men. 

The  courage  of  the  enemies  to  the  liturgy  increased  with 
the  prospect  of  security  for  their  temporal  support,  and 
within  the  duchy  raised  up  an  opposition  party,  which  was 
animated  and  led  by  the  most  cultivated  theologians  and 
priests  of  the  land,  made  the  more  eminent  by  the  lustre  of 
the  persecution  they  suffered.  All  the  men  who  were  promi 
nent  in  the  contest  which  duke  Charles  now  commenced 
against  the  liturgy  of  John,  were  those  who  had  previously 
held  places  not  in  his  duchy.  Charles,  therefore,  stood  in 
this  contest,  not  in  the  strength  which  the  church  already 
possessed  within  his  dukedom,  and  which  might  have  suffi 
ced  to  sustain  him,  but  he  formed  a  band  of  warriors  out 
of  the  forces  John  himself  supplied.  One  only  of  these  men, 
Henrik  Gadolenus,  who  a  short  time  before  had  been  reader 
at  the  college  in  Upsala,  appears  to  have  taken  the  pastoral 
charge  of  Balinge,  in  Sodermanland,  in  the  duchy,  previous 
to  the  open  breach. 

A  part  of  Charles's  dukedom,  the  districts  of  Vermland 
and  Valla,  and  Vadsbo,  lay  in  the  diocese  of  Skara,  whose 


fcEFORMAtlON   IN    SWEbEtf.  540 

bishop  was  favorable  to  the  liturgy.  There  could  not  fail 
being  a  contest  between  the  spiritual  ruler,  who  in  his  juris 
diction  enforced  the  reception  of  the  liturgy,  and  the  tem 
poral,  who  would  permit  no  change.  Dissatisfaction  with 
bishop  Jacob,  determined  the  duke  to  separate  his  portions 
from  the  diocese  of  Skara.  He  then  offered,  in  1581, 
Jesper  Marci,  who  had  been  for  two  }  ears  deposed  from  the 
pastoral  cure  of  Wadsten,  to  become  superintendent  of  those 
portions,  and  appointed  him  accordingly,  on  condition  that 
he  would  watch  over  the  church's  doctrine  and  ceremonies, 
so  that  nothing  should  be  introduced  contrary  to  God's 
word  in  holy  Scripture  rightly  interpreted  and  understood, 
or  contrary  to  the  usages  of  king  Gustavus's  time,  and  that 
he  would  abolish  all  abuses. 

Jesper  held  the  pastorate  of  Ullarva,  and  from  1583,  the 
newly  settled  Mariestad,  as  his  place  of  residence.  In 
Carlstad  and  Mariestad,  schools  were  founded,  and  for  the 
latter,  collections  made  in  the  parishes  which  before  had 
contributed  to  support  the  school  in  the  diocese  of 
Skara. 

Bishop  Marten,  who  had  been  displaced  in  1580,  remain 
ed  in  Linkoping  nine  months,  without  office  or  salary,  until 
duke  Charles,  soon  after  the  coming  of  Jesper,  gave  an  in 
vitation  to  the  bishop  also,  took  him  under  his  protection, 
and  appointed  him  to  be  pastor  of  the  congregation  of  St. 
Nicholas,  at  Nykoping,  the  capital  of  the  duchy.  Master 
Marten  wrote  to  the  king,  and  solicited  his  favorable  con 
sideration.  He  deemed  that  he  had  done  no  wrong,  but 
he  could  not  draw  in  the  yoke  with  sophists  and  papists. 
The  duke,  too,  made  application  to  the  king,  though  in 
vain,  that  what  was  left  of  the  bishop's  sequestered  prop 
erty  at  Linkoping,  might  be  restored  to  him  as  a  free  gift. 

The  men  who  previously  refused  to  acknowledge  the 
liturgy,  could  not  avoid  acknowledging  the  pressure  of  the 
king's  renewed  severity.  The  provost,  Olof,  was  permit- 


-•"'.'  BISTORT  OF  TUT  ttfff  JMiifffr  1  T 

ted,  op  bis  promise  of  fflpace,  to  enjoy  the  freedom  of  y/ri- 
vaie  fife.  Peter  Joatbim  wa*  pereuadf*!  to  w*<\A  th« 
liturgy,  3Iore  immoveahle  were  the  two  reader*,  J'etrw* 
Jotur,  and  Olof  Lath,  whom  neither  per*ua*ion  nor  low* 
of  salary  cxmld  hend«  The  latter  wa#,  in  the  ginning  of 
1580,  removed  from  trouble  by  death. 

Matter  I'etra*,  truly  named,  beeam<:  now  a  r'xrk  on  whieh 
tfceoppOtttMm  founded  it*?$£  Aether  with  Olof,  who  h»J 
allowed  to  continue  teaebing  at  T'ptaia,  until  in 
qnemee  of  the  plague'*  breaking  out,  the  kinj?  r\n»#A  the  «y>l  - 
lege.  His  «alaiy  had  b«^n  with^lrawn.  ar^l  he  a^b^l  the 
king  for  the  benefke  of  FunV>9  ^ituat/^1  r^ssr  L'jx^ia.  He 
answer  waft,  that  It  wouW  be  granted  him  on  '^orifihion  that 
be  allowed  divine  serviie  to  be  performed  by  a  ^hapkum  of 
the  kln^.  At  fir*t  be  nefiu^L  but  removal  at  ia^t  to  Fun- 
bo^  to  eaeape  the  «Q0ol«gMiii  of  the  pla^nue.  \',f.vuttt\mdtt'A 
\*y  five  nefjMKMKWi  of  Knot  IJlj^  an^J  Jietmk.  Matnwt//nf  at 
Ufffisday  be  wa§  ealled  in  !<>%!  to  fttodtbobn,  ar<dt 
nffthrr  threat*  nor  pfwougej  availe/L  he  wa«  itatt  into 
Still  intfexltile,  he  wa#  J/»;;1>.LM  Jxr  the  k'myf*.  order^,  to  a 
place  within  die  H«Hian  territorimf  $  toot  in  the  anititMt  of 
,  be  found  an  of^ort«nity  to  e^^t^  a/^1  went  to  Sy- 


Jle  wa»  wx*  wiet  there  by  the  third  of  the  inore 
Andreas    The  latter  ha4  re«atn«d 


.   ••  •  .       •    ,     ;        ,.       .        >         .  ,  -  ,.          ,     .   .  •  .       . 


.  ,  •  .      " 


y-vu.  04*un&  KLw..'*^»i^n  .  ^w  j'-vv/f  *-fw\«<-  :<%  &,<**#*      t  w>+ 


,  .    .   • 

.        - 

f  «Mr  «4  ' 


SWKIXKX.  ;     1 


dbturbed  in  Aland.  until  hi*  activity  againafctteliftiirgr  oc- 
ca*ionod  hi*  beitt£>  in  lo>8tX  imprisoned  at  Abo*.  After 
s^xuh?  timo*  ho  gained  an  op^rtunitv  of  larin^  hi*  case 
boioro  IVutu*  do  la  Gardio%  who*  on  tho  giumd  of  hi* 

piv*cuc  enlightenment  repenting  hi*  participation  in  th* 
church**  di*tx»rbance*>  ot"  hi*  own  motion*  released  Abraham* 
Abraham  wa*  then  sent  to  Saltvtk*  thero  to  remain  till  hi* 
wife  and  do  la  Ganlio  *hould  ^o  to*  Stockholm*  and  obtain 
tor  him  the  kii^V  gra<>.v.  The  attempt  iui*vturw?d.  because 
ho  who,  uow  imuiagwi  th,o  dkvew  ot*  AK\  declaneil  that  ail 

wowld  W  lo*5  it'  Abraham  again  £ot  at  libertv.     Th*? 

wa*  ^iwa  that  ho  *ho«lvl  be  rxv5nruoil  to  AKx  ami 
to  a  Uto  iuipri*«s>umeut  iu  svmo  cas<tlo  on  the  rtm 


lu  \aiu  ho  cvi^;v\U  that  wuh  hi*  $kk  wite,  and 
mi^ht  nwkto  iu  #0*110  roaioto  oornor  ot'  tatherfaod*     But 
thov  who  WVTO  to  :**»?  hitu  hav,l  atreas.bc 
hiiu*oit'  into  a  boat^  atui  tfeevt  to  tho  coa*t  oi*  S 
thon>  tound  rvtt^co  wich  duke  O&arfc?**     Tki*  |>«BIW%  at 
ot'  tho  oxitoil  Abraham,  and  l\tr«s  JOUA\  peti- 
tho  kit^t  a»t^  c^uucU  oJf  tho  kitt^vloux  ^.«r  thow  both* 
a*  ho  wa*  awaro  ihac  tho  kit\^  wa^  avor*o  tv> 
thov  could  x\ot  v\Ht*vsiontkH»*^ir  cotn^^v  with 
ho 


bfe* 


mstr*  w* 


,t  K4 


552  HISTORY    OP   THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

tion  in  the  words,  "  we,  too,  acknowledge  the  same  religion 
that  they  maintain." 

It  could  not  escape  king  John,  how  fruitless  his  severity 
was  likely  to  prove,  as  long  as  Charles  confessed  himself  to 
have  a  common  cause  with  the  opposers  of  the  liturgy,  and 
kept  his  duchy  open  to  them.  He  called  together  a  diet  in 
1582,  and  summoned  to  it  about  eight  hundred  of  the 
clergy.  Of  these  he  required  a  new  subscription,  which, 
also,  by  the  exertions  of  Henrik  Mattsson,  was  brought  to 
pass.  The  church  ordinance  of  1575,  (that  of  1571  was 
not  mentioned)  and  the  liturgy,  were  to  be  the  rule  of  all 
congregations  in  Sweden.  Whoever  would  not  submit  to 
this  decree,  they  would  reject  and  esteem  them  to  be  unrea 
sonable  and  disobedient  men.  They  avowed  their  recog 
nition  of  all  the  king's  privileges  within  the  duchies,  of  but 
"  one  public  worship  in  the  kingdom,  of  but  one  king  and 
one  law." 

What  these  privileges  were,  in  relation  to  the  church,  was 
set  forth  in  an  ordinance  of  the  king,  published  some  days 
later.  The  church  customs  which,  in  other  parts  of  the 
kingdom  were  received,  were  agreed  to  by  the  bishops, 
prelates,  and  many  clergy,  and  which  were  in  conform* 
ity  to  God's  pure  and  clear  word,  should  be  also  received 
within  the  duchies.  No  one  but  the  king  and  archbishop 
had  authority  to  settle  bishops  anywhere  in  the  kingdom. 
He  who  was  guilty  of  an  offence  against  the  king,  and  re 
moved  into  the  duchies,  should  not.  against  the  king's  will, 
be  protected  and  harbored  by  their  princes,  but  every  man 
be  compelled  to  obey  the  king's  warrant. 

The  duke  could  not  be  induced  to  give  his  assent  to  some 
of  these  points.  The  king  soon  after  issued  a  warrant  to 
the  three  refugees,  to  appear  in  Stockholm,  and  make  an 
swer  to  the  charges  the  king  had  against  them  ;  but  the 
warrant  was  not  obeyed.  Master  Marten  declared  that  he 
could  not  appear,  because  he  had  been  displaced  without 


REFORMATION   IN    SWEDEN*  553 

examination  or  trial,  and  was  now  the  duke's  servant,  arid 
thus  could  not  be  righted  out  of  the  duchy.  The  king's 
anger  against  this  man  was  not  abated.  Pie  was,  in  1583, 
proclaimed  a  perjurer  and  infamous,  and  his  breach  of  oath 
to  maintain  the  liturgy,  was  proclaimed  worthy  of  the  pil- 
Jory.  The  old  man  remained,  till  his  death  in  1585,  un 
disturbed  in  his  benefice. 

The  king's  wrath  did  not  permit  the  two  others  to  remain 
quiet  in  the  dukedom,  but  they  removed  to  the  lief  of 
Bohus,  which  was  subject  to  the  crown  of  Denmark. 
Fearing  that  the  protection  and  countenance  there  afforded 
them  might  occasion  a  strife  between  the  king  of  Sweden 
and  Denmark,  and  that  thus  they  might  seem  to  rely  upon 
the  arm  of  flesh,  they  passed  over,  at  the  close  of  1582,  into 
Germany,  furnished  with  a  recommendation  by  duke 
Charles  to  his  sister  Elizabeth,  the  dutchess  of  Meklenburg. 
When  at  the  same  time,  duke  Charles  took  himself  a  jour 
ney  to  Germany,  he  was  followed  to  Lubeck  by  Petrus 
Jonne  with  his  wife  and  children,  for  whom  there  seemed  no 
safety  in  Sweden,  Petrus  Jouro  and  his  family,  however, 
returned  in  August  of  the  same  year,  with  the  duke,  to  Ny- 
koping,  of  which,  after  the  death  of  Marten,  he  became  the 
pastor.  Master  Abraham,  to  whose  restless  impetuosity  the 
duke  did  not  wish  to  be  in  too  close  proximity,  and  whom 
it  was  thought  advisable  to  remove  from  the  king's  wrath, 
kept  himself  in  the  north  of  Germany,  till,  in  1593,  he  was 
recalled  home  to  take  the  archiepiscopal  chair  of  Upsala. 

Bishop  Nils  of  Striingness,  who,  from  1577.  took  no 
further  part  in  the  injunctions  of  the  king,  was  not  now 
more  able  to  endure  the  still  greater  and  energetic  require 
ments  of  the  duke.  It  seems  that  the  duke,  on  a  visit  of 
the  bishop  to  Nykoping,  in  1582,  presented  a  project,  from 
the  approval  of  which  the  bishop  endeavored  to  escape  by 
hastily  leaving  the  town.  He  soon  after  requested  permis 
sion  to  resign  his  office,  as  being  too  old  for  its  duties. 

Charles,  who,    after    the    publication     of  the    edict  of 
24 


554  HISTORY    OF    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

1583,  could  not  be  desirous  of  a  vacancy  in  the  see, 
expressed  a  wish  to  confer  with  the  bishop.  He  ex- 
excused  himself  on  the  plea  of  sickness  from  coming,  and 
Henrik  Gadolenus  was  appointed,  in  conjunction  with  the 
chapter,  to  manage  the  episcopal  office,  which  he  continued 
to  do  till  the  death  of  his  father-in-law.  This  .master 
Henrik  also  drew  upon  himself  the  displeasure  of  the  king  ; 
being  accused  by  Bjelke  and  Baner,  of  having,  in  a  sermon, 
inveighed  against  the  king.  Duke  Charles  took  him  under 
his  protection,  declared  him  innocent,  and  refused  to  permit 
him  to  be  tried  beyond  the  duchy. 

During  these  commotions  there  was,  from  the  commence 
ment  of  the  year  1579,  no  archbishop  of  Upsala.  While 
the  negotiations  with  Kome  were  going  on,  the  king  did 
not  wish  to  fetter  himself  by  a  nomination,  whose  validity, 
in  case  of  a  union,  might  be  called  in  question.  In  con 
ducting,  moreover,  his  compulsive  measures  within  tho 
church,  a  vacancy  in  that  office  left  the  king  more  at  liberty. 
The  choice  of  a  proper  person  was  not  easy.  King  John 
was  favorably  inclined  to  the  before-named  Laurent! us 
Magnus,  recommended  by  his  relationship  to  the  last  of  the 
papal  bishops.  Bothvid  of  Nerike,  celebrated  for  his  learn 
ing,  was  also  proposed.  These,  probably,  were  the  candi 
dates  of  the  Jesuits.  But  after  the  breach  of  the  purposed 
union  with  Rome  had  rendered  these  men,  who  had  gone 
over  to  that  church,  ineligible,  the  king  fixed  upon  Andreas 
Torchilli,  pastor  of  Jonkoping,  who,  notwithstanding  his 
refusal,  was,  in  1583,  summoned  to  Stockholm,  with  the 
bishops  who  were  to  consecrate  hirn.  His  persistent  refusal 
probably  rendered  the  choice  of  him  ineffectual,  and 
Andreas  Laurentii  Bjornram,  bishop  of  \Vexio,  was  looked 
to  as  a  suitable  pwson  for  that  high  post.  This  man, 
who  for  his  father's  services,  and  his  own  zeal  in  the  liturgic 
cause,  had  won  the  king's  favor,  and  been  promoted  to  the 
bishopric  of  Wexio,  seems  to  have  become  sufficiently  luke 
warm  ;  so  that  his  own  chapter  did  not,  until  1580,  accept 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  555 

the  liturgy,  and  that  through  Lilje's  and  Henrik  Mattsson's 
exertions.  He  had,  beside  reputation  for  learning,  acquired 
much  esteem  as  a  man  of  pure  character  and  sound  faith, 
so  that  the  anti-liturgical  party  considered  him  as  one  of 
them.  Now  upon  the  contrary,  he  declared  himself  ex* 
pressly  in  favor  of  the  ordinantia  and  liturgy,  and  was 
suspected  of  having  sacrificed  his  convictions  for  the  hope 
of  elevation  and  the  royal  favor. 

The  provost  Nicolaus  Stephani  succeeded  him  as  bishop 
of  "Wcxio.  After  bishop  Marten's  displacement,  in  1580, 
he  was  succeeded  by  provost  Petrus  Michaelis,  who  was  then 
eighty  years  of  age  and  $ied  the  same  year.  The  diocess 
was  administered  for  two  years  by  superintendents  Iflap 
Petri,  penitentiary  of  Linkoping,  and  Nils  Petri,-  school 
master  of  that  city,  until  the  father  of  the  latter,  Petrus 
Carol i  of  Kalmar,  now  a  zealous  liturgist,  was,  in  1582, 
appointed  bishop,  who,  in  the  following  year,  acquired  the 
addition  to  his  diocese  of  Oeland,  Kalmar,  and  More,  which, 
for  a  time,  had  been  attached  to  the  see  of  Wexio. 

A  few  weeks  before  bishop  Marten's  displacement,  Fecht's 
former  friend,  and  for  a  time  the  promoter  of  John  IIL's  re 
form  plans,  bishop  Erasmus  of  "Westerns,  departed  this  life, 
not  without  self-reproach  for  the  aid  he  furnished  in  a  cause 
which  menaced  the  church's  stability  and  freedom.  As  his 
successor,  Petrus  Benedict!  was  nominated,  who,  being 
reader  at  Upsala,  had  subscribed  the  church  ordinances  of 
1572  and  1575,  but  was  transferred  to  the  pastoral  care  of 
Soderkoping,  before  the  men  of  Upsala  opened  the  contest 
against  the  liturgy,  which  he  in  1577*  accepted. 

After  the  death  of  P.  Juusten,  in  1576,  Abo  had,  during 
the  insecurity  of  the  following  years,  remained  vacant.  In 
1579,  the  provost  Henrik  Knutsson  was  appointed  its  super 
intendent.  In  1583,  Erik  Erici,  born  in  Finland,  at  that 
time  school-master  of  G-efle,  eminent  for  suavity  and  learn 
ing,  was  nominated  as  its  bishop.  The  diocese  of  Viborg, 


556  HISTORY    OF   THE   ECCLESIASTICAL 

vacant  by  the  death  of  E.  Herkiepes,  in  1580,  was  re-united 
to  Abo. 

The  new  bishops  of  Linkoping,  Westeras,  and  "Wexio, 
had,  soon  after  their  nomination,  been  consecrated.  They 
were  now  summoned,  in  September,  1583,  with  all  the  other 
bishops,  to  attend  the  consecration  of  the  archbishop,  which 
took  place  on  the  fourth  of  that  month.  The  archbishop 
then  consecrated  the  bishop  of  Abo.  There  is  no  doubt 
that  the  ceremonies  were  now  used  which  nine  years  before 
created  so  much  disturbance. 

On  this  occasion  there  were  assembled,  beside  the  bishop 
from  Srangness,  all  the  bishops  of  Sweden,  to  whom  was 
now  added  the  bishop  of  Revel,  Christian  Agricola,  son  of 
the  bishop  of  Abo.  Certain  resolutions  were  adopted  in 
presence  of  the  king,  to  confirm  and  perfect  the  liturgical 
reform.  It  was  not  a  question  of  doctrine,  but  of  church 
usages  of  which  they  treated.  The  principle  they  professed 
was,  that  although  they  acknowledged  that  without  the 
guidance  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  whom  they  must  seek  by 
prayer,  they  could  not  rightly  fulfil  the  work  of  their 
office,  yet  for  this  purpose  some  certain  regulations  and 
rites  were  necessary  as  a  means.  They  would,  in  their 
dioceses,  follow  accurately  as  a  pattern  the  ordinantia  of 
1575,  and  for  the  culture  of  priests  in  the  doctrines  of  the 
church  fathers,  they  would  import  and  circulate  the  neces 
sary  books.  At  the  mass  the  liturgy  should  be  accurately 
followed,  and  they  would  have  an  eye  to  the  church  music, 
such  as  had  been  wont  to  be  practised  in  each  diocese. 

The  bishops  promised  that  on  high  festivals  they  would 
perform  the  mass  themselves,  and  on  all  occasions,  as  well  as 
festivals,  use  their  appropriate  dress.  The  priests  should  be 
obligated,  when  going  to  administer  the  Lord's  Supper  to  the 
sick,  to  use  their  canonical  attire,  and  on  other  official  occa 
sions,  at  least  the  dress  called  roklin.  Care  was  to  be  taken 
that  the  proper  garments  were  to  be  found  in  all  churches. 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  557 

Uncomely  images,  which  might  bring  the  saints  into  con 
tempt,  should  be  removed  from  the  churches.  In  cathedrals 
and  the  towns,  where  a  part  of  the  congregation  understood 
Latin,  there  should,  on  high  festivals  at  least,  one  mass 
be  performed  in  Latin,  but  at  the  same  time,  at  one  or  two 
of  the  other  altars,  in  Swedish,  especially  if  guests  for  the 
Lord's  Supper  were  found.  The  bishops  were  to  be  careful 
that  suitable  persons  were  called  to  the  priests'  office. 
They  would,  at  the  ordination  of  priests,  adopt  the  old 
custom  of  anointing  with  oil,  provided  it  could  be  done 
without  scandal,  an  exception  which  reminds  us  of  the 
question  of  the  foregoing  times  respecting  the  removal  of 
unnecessary  or  injurious  church  usages.  The  same  ex 
ception  was  now  made,  when  they  were  to  be  taken  up 
again. 

One  of  the  resolutions  underwent  a  separate  investiga 
tion,  the  bishops  either  wishing  to  avoid  attracting  general 
attention  to  the  subject,  or  taking  it  up,  for  the  first  time, 
at  a  late  period.  This  was  their  engagement  to  instruct 
the  clergy  that  they  were  to  anoint  the  sick  with  oil. 

The  resolutions  of  the  bishops,  passed  on  the  10th  of 
September,  1583,  mark  an  important  point  in  liturgical 
reform.  King  John  had  now  found  for  the  church,  leaders 
who,  in  union,  and  unconditionally  it  was  thought,  would 
enter  into  his  views,  and  be  ready  and  willing  to  promote 
them.  This,  in  connection  with  the  conciliar  decree  of 
1582,  and  the  compulsive  measures  taken  since  1580,  seems 
to  announce  that  the  work  was  now  complete  ;  and  yet  it 
was  near  its  dissolution. 

The  church  was  now  by  no  means  fully  reformed.  The 
first  to  rebel  was  Charles'  duchy,  which,  under  the  guidance 
of  the  duke's  firmness  and  strength,  and  the  decided  faith 
of  the  men  whom  John's  zeal  had  driven  thither,  was  more 
and  more  alienated  from  liturgism.  We  must  also,  at  this 
time,  take  into  account,  what  is  usually  found  to  be  the 


HISTORY    OP    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

case,  that  where  good  will  is  wanting,  edicts  and  decrees  are 
slowly  and  inertly,  or  not  at  all  operative.  After  the  strong 
measure  of  forbidding  the  payment  of  tithes  had  been 
carried  into  operation,  and  after  the  decree  of  1582,  and 
under  a  bishop  favorable  to  the  liturgy,  the  priests  of  the 
chapter  of  the  cathedral  of  "Westerns  itself  were  not  unan 
imous  respecting  the  use  of  the  new  order  of  the  mass ;  and 
it  was  neglected  in  many  places  of  the  diocese,  both  in  the 
towns  and  in  the  country. 

Even  after  the  pledge  made  by  the  bishops,  the  arch 
bishop  himself  is  reproached  by  the  king  for  giving  the 
charge  of  congregations  and  parishes  to  men  who  were  op- 
posers  of  the  liturgy  and  the  king.  We  conclude,  therefore, 
that  the  change  was  not  carried  through.  The  bishops 
winked  at  a  disobedience  which  they  did  not  always  disap 
prove.  It  may  be  supposed,  what  is  not  unusual,  that  the 
measures  pursued  with  the  priests  had  different  effects. 
Many  contented  themselves  in  their  straitened  circum 
stances,  or  with  the  good  will  of  their  congregations,  on 
which  they  depended  for  support  when  the  tithes  were  with 
drawn.  Many  who  could  not  see  into  the  dangers  which 
the  better  informed  apprehended  from  the  liturgy,  its  origin, 
its  relations,  and  aims,  or  who  could  not  show  where  lay 
its  false  doctrines  and  superstitious  usages,  followed  the 
judgment  of  those  on  whom  their  confidence  rested.  Doubt 
less  there  were  not  wanting  those  who  could  find  good 
reason?,  such  as  might  cover  their  personal  interests  with 
the  cloak  of  a  zeal  for  truth — men  who  consulted  only  their 
temporal  advantages. 

Many  were  removed  from  their  offices,  or  laid  them  down 
of  their  own  accord.  But  when  it  is  said  that  priests 
were  often  put  into  places,  whose  only  credit  was  their 
avowed  attachment  to  the  liturgy,  men  who  not  only  were 
unlearned,  but  adulterers,  thieves,  murderers,  perjurers, 
drunkards,  and  libidinous  persons,  it  must  be  borne  in  mind 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  559 

that  these  charges  brought  by  each  party  against  the  other 
have  no  great  weight,  in  a  time  which  constantly  so  painted 
the  character  of  foes.  These  charges  only  show  that  no 
period  and  no  party  can  boast  of  perfection.  But  while  on 
the  one  hand  we  allow  that  party  interest  could  blind  the 
eyes  to  manifest  vices,  we  must  on  the  other  hand  give 
credit  to  the  sincerity  of  the  assertions  of  the  friends  of  the 
liturgy,  that  their  efforts  were  directed  to  the  promotion 
of  Christian  piety  and  virtue. 

The  rigorous  measures  by  which  king  John  now  desired 
to  press  the  reception  of  the  liturgy,  were  the  trial  that 
purified  the  Swedish  church  into  a  clear  consciousness  of 
its  protestant  principles.  Beside  what  we  have  already  told, 
many  cases  are  mentioned  of  the  perturbations  produced 
by  this  war  of  opinions,  and  the  mental  conflicts  which 
agitated  individual  priests,  upon  the  question  whether  con 
science  would  allow  the  reception  of  this  liturgy  or  not. 
The  names  of  many  are  on  record,  who  either  in  their 
last  moments  deplored  in  deep  repentance  their  being 
seduced  into  an  acknowledgment  of  the  liturgy,  or  termi 
nated  their  anguish  in  madness ;  and  the  reports  of  these 
particulars  were  carefully  taken  down  and  witnessed  under 
the  hands  of  members  of  the  congregation  who  allowed 
their  names  to  appear  in  print. 

Of  the  people's  inclination  for  the  liturgy,  there  is  no 
testimony  offered,  other  than  the  requests  made  to  king 
John  in  1577,  and  what  is  reported  by  Posse vin.  No  dis 
satisfaction,  such  as  was  expressed  in  king  Gustavus's  time 
at  the  removal  of  superfluous  ceremonies,  betrays  itself  now 
against  the  priests  who  refused  introduction.  Upon  the  con 
trary,  it  is  asserted,  though  not  by  unexceptionable  wit 
nesses,  that  very  many  kept  away  from  public  worship  in 
the  churches  where  it  was  conducted  according  to  the 
liturgy,  and  frequented  those  only  where  the  liturgy  was  not 
used ;  that  many  refused  in  their  last  hours  to  receive  the 


560  HISTORY    OF    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

sacrament  when  they  could  only  receive  it  from  the  hands 
of  the  liturgical  priests,  and  that  parents  recalled  their  sons 
from  their  schools  and  studies,  to  save  them  from  the 
storms  of  the  future. 

During  the  active  contests  between  the  more  rigid  prot 
estants  and  the  friends  of  the  king's  religion,  the  prospects 
of  the  Roman  church  became  more  and  more  dark.  John 
and  his  party  were  reluctant  to  admit  that  the  projected 
union  had  failed,  had,  as  so  often  is  the  case,  been  con 
verted  into  a  more  bitter  .  hate,  and  that  the  courtesy  to 
ward  Rome,  on  the  part  of  the  philoliturgists,  had  become- 
a  scandal  in  the  eyes  of  the  misoliturgists.  The  former  did 
not  permit  those  bitter  sallies  against  the  pope  and  his  ad 
herents  of  which  the  protestants  were  not  sparing.  Even 
those  must  sometimes  speak  against  the  papists;  but,  as 
master  Abraham  remarks,  they  spoke  of  the  pope  as  at 
present  not  in  his  natural  condition.  They  said :  "  So 
thought  formerly  some  passionate  papists  ;  *  *  *  but  of 
antichrist,  the  wolf  and  devil  who  harrows  and  ravages  the 
fold  of  Christ  in  the  kingdom  of  the  Swedes  and  Goths, 
they  whisper  not  a  word."  But  there  was  cause  for 
remark,  even  among  those  not  the  most  zealous,  when 
the  archbishop,  in  a  sermon  on  the  virtues  wrhich  adorned 
queen  Catharine,  preached  at  the  cathedral  of  Upsala 
in  1584,  praised  her  even  for  her  steadfast  adherence 
to  the  catholic  faith  which  she  inherited  from  her  fore 
fathers  and  out  of  whose  pale  no  one  can  be  saved.  The 
expression  does  not  expressly  imply  praise  of  the  Roman 
faith ;  but  he  was  censured  by  the  protestants,  to  whom 
the  only  excuse  of  the  archbishop  was  the  obedience  he 
considered  himself  to  owe  the  king's  will.  In  the  Swedish 
psalm-book  were  contained  many  energetic  psalms  against 
the  pope.  These  were  regarded  as  offensive,  and  were 
either  removed  from  the  edition  of  1585,  or  altered  into 
milder  effusions. 


REFORMATION   IN    SWEDEN.  561 

Rome,  on  her  side,  was  still  willing  to  hope  for  a  change, 
and  pope  Gregory  wrote  in  1581  to  the  king  a  letter,  in 
which  he  commends  his  good  purposes,  and  exculpates  his 
own  refusal  to  assent  to  the  king's  demands,  especially  with 
respect  to  the  Lord's  Supper.  The  Tridentine  council  had 
passed  its  decree  on  this  subject,  but  he  would  willingly 
allow  the  question  to  be  examined  anew  by  a  church  coun 
cil,  if  one  could  be  assembled.  He  would  take  it  into 
further  consideration.  The  chief  point  seems  to  be  the 
overture  made  by  the  pope,  that  as  the  king  had  no  valid  • 
priests  in  his  kingdom,  he  should  appoint  a  popish  bishop 
only  in  some  remote  parts  of  Finland,  to  effect  the  restoration 
of  the  church. 

This  letter  was  brought  from  Rome  by  Possevin,  who 
was  at  this  time  dispatched  on  an  embassage  to  Russia, 
undertaken  with  the  like  nattering  hopes  as  that  to  Sweden, 
but  with  the  same  fruitless  results.  Once,  when  pressed 
by  a  war  with  Sweden,  Poland  and  the  Crim  Tartars,  the 
Russian  czar,  Ivan  Vasiljevitsch,  determined,  by  an  advan 
tage  proffered  to  the  Roman  church  within  his  dominions, 
to  win  the  pope's  mediation  for  peace  with  Poland.  The 
business  was  undertaken  by  Possevin,  who  was  fortunate 
enough  to  re-establish  peace  between  Russia  and  Poland, 
on  the  15th  of  January,  1582.  But  there  had  not  been 
taken  into  account  what  impression  this  interference  to 
bring  about  such  a  peace  Avould  make  on  the  king  of 
Sweden,  who  alone  continued  the  war.  Dissatisfaction 
with  the  peace  might  recoil  upon  the  peace-maker. 

Soon  after,  on  September  16,  1583,  the  bond  was  broken 
on  the  death  of  queen  Catharine,  by  which  Rome  first 
gained  an  opportunity  of  approaching  king  John.  She  had, 
during  the  last  years  of  her  life,  remained  under  the 
influence  of  the  Jesuits,  who,  through  her  had  access  to 
the  king.  The  queen's  death  raised  in  the  foes  of  the 
Roman  church  the  hope  that  its  advance  in  Sweden  was 
24* 


562  HISTORY    OF    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

now  at  an  end,  and  so  audible  were  the  threats,  that  Warse- 
witz  and  Ardulf  prepared  immediately  to  leave  the  land. 
Nothing  but  the  king's  promise  of  protection  induced  them 
to  remain  for  some  time.  Warsewitz,  however,  in  the 
spring  of  1584,  took  his  departure,  taking  with  him  five 
Swedish  youths  for  4he  seminary  at  Braunsberg,  to  which 
the  queen  bequeathed  a  large  sum  of  money. 

Of  the  two  children  of  Catharine  who  survived  their 
mother,  the  princess  Ann  was  lost  to  the  Roman  church. 
JThere  seems  to  have  been  no  special  attempt  to  win  her 
who  was  not  heir  to  the  throne.  She  was  considered  as 
having  followed  the  faith  of  her  mother,  but  had,  according 
to  king  John's  assurance,  already,  before  her  mother's  death, 
"  altogether  abandoned"  the  Roman  faith  and  doctrine. 
There  is  a  report  that  Ann,  without  being  observed,  was 
present  when  the  queen,  near  her  end,  made  known  to 
Warsewitz  her  fear  of  purgatory,  and  asked  if  she  could 
hope  that  the  troubles  she  now  suffered  would  contribute 
to  shorten  its  pains.  Warsewitz  answered,  that  there 
was  no  purgatory,  but  that  the  doctrine  thereof  was  fabled 
to  keep  the  simple  in  check,  an  answer  which  occasioned 
his  own  dismissal  from  the  queen,  and  in  the  princess  an 
unchangeable  abhorrence  of  Roman  doctrine. 

Upon  the  other  hand,  Sigismund  was,  and  remained, 
attached  to  the  Roman  church,  one  of  the  most  obedient 
sons,  after  the  Reformation,  she  had  among  the  princes  of 
Europe.  In  vain  the  king  and  council  of  the  kingdom 
sought  to  detach  him.  Their  representations,  that  by  his 
attachment  to  popery  he  hazarded  the  crown  he  was  to 
inherit,  merely  called  forth  the  answer,  that  he  did  not  so 
much  value  an  earthly  crown  as  to  be  willing  to  throw 
away  a  heavenly.  Notwithstanding  this  firmness,  he  now 
more  than  before  took  part  with  his  father  in  the  liturgic 
worship  and  service.  There  was,  however,  held  for  him  a 
special  popish  mass,  and  the  Jesuits  were  constantly  found 
about  the  person  of  the  prince. 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  5G3 

When  the  illusory  hope  of  concessions  on  the  part 
of  the  church  of  Rome,  which  hope  was  the  offspring  of 
John's  own  imagination,  had  dwindled  away,  he  was 
brought  no  nearer  to  the  protestant  church ;  but,  driven  by 
necessity  to  look  for  a  strong  ecclesiastical  body,  he  turned 
his  thoughts  to  a  union  with  the  Greek  church,  with  which, 
though  sundered  from  the  Raman,  the  Lutherans  of  Ger 
many  had  not  the  good  fortune  to  connect  themselves. 
Bishop  Erik,  of  Abo,  such  was  the  king's  scheme,  was  to 
translate  the  liturgy  into  the  Greek  language,  and  ivith  it 
journey  to  Constantinople  to  open  negotiations  with  its 
patriarch.  The  king,  however,  abandoned  this  project. 

The  disguised  attacks  which  the  papists  and  their  near 
of  kin,  the  liturgists,  among  whom  were  many  who  un 
reservedly  confessed  the  popish  faith,  made  upon  protestant 
ism  in  their  sermons,  awakened  a  dissatisfaction  that  was 
loudly  expressed.  Protestantism  was  the  object  of  the 
popular  belief  and  affection,  and  when,  about  a  year  and 
a  half  after  queen  Catharine's  death,  king  John  married 
Gunila  Bjelke,  who  by  education  and  inclination  belonged 
to  the  protestant  church,  the  dissatisfied  began  to  hope  a 
nearer  access  to  the  king's  ear  and  heart. 

At  the  time  of  the  marriage  festivities  at  Westerns,  in 
February  and  March,  1585,  the  assembled  council  and 
bishops  availed  themselves  of  the  opportunity  to  offer  the 
king  their  serious  remonstrances.  The  councillors  com 
plained  of  the  insolence  with  which  the  faith  and  church 
of  the  Swedish  people  were  assailed.  The  king  ought  to 
adopt  in  time  measures  and  means  to  put  a  stop  to  it. 
They  urged  that  such  mischievous  persons  should  either  be 
banished  the  land,  or  punished  in  some  other  way,  and  they 
said  that  it  was  currently  reported  that  the  populace  and 
soldiery  threatened  at  any  rate,  if  they  did  it  themselves, 
to  get  rid  of  such  weeds.  Prince  Sigismund's  Polish  priest 
preached  openly  and  in  Swedish  against  the  religion  of  the 


564  HISTORY    OF   THE   ECCLESIASTICAL 

country,  and  circulated  books  and  tracts  to  the  same  pur 
port.  The  council  required  that  a  stop  should  be  put  to 
this,  that  the  prince  should  follow  his  father's  faith,  or  that 
at  least  his  priests  should  be  forbidden  to  preach  in  any 
language  but  that  of  the  Poles. 

The  bishops  complained  that  the  preacher  at  Stockholm, 
Lars  Forsius,  or  Franne,  had  fallen  off  to  the  Jesuitical 
faith  ;  that  another  "  Jesuit,"  Johannes  Finne,  had  in  their 
presence,  and  at  other  times,  declared  that  in  Sweden  there 
were  no  bishops  or  priests,  but  soul-murderers,  who  had  no 
power  in  matters  relating  to  salvation.  The  bishops,  in 
cluding  the  otherwise  compliant  bishop  of  Linkoping, 
remonstrated  against  the  king's  interference  with  the  dis 
cipline  of  the  church.  If  a  priest,  for  viciousness  of  doctrine 
or  life  was  displaced,  he  was  without  trial  reinstated  by  the 
king.  The  king  allowed  the  chapter  to  continue  either 
incomplete  in  numbers,  or  to  melt  away,  whereby  bishops 
were  shorn  of  their  strength,  since  one  man  is  no  man. 
This  was  an  effort  to  regain  the  church's  lost  independence, 
made  by  the  very  men  whose  power  king  John  wished  to 
elevate,  but  only  on  the  supposition  of  their  submissiveness 
to  him.  They  were  to  be  catholic  bishops,  but  likewise, 
merely  as  the  king's  working  gear,  superintendents  of  the 
districts  around  them. 

This  struggle  for  freedom  had  at  this  time  no  conse 
quences.  But  the  outcry  against  papists  had  an  easier  suc 
cess.  Forsius,  who  openly  renounced  the  faith  he  was 
pledged  to  preach,  could  not  be  patronized.  He  was  cited 
to  Westeras  and  stripped  of  his  clerical  robes,  on  a  festival, 
before  the  altar  of  the  cathedral  of  AYesteras ;  a  publicity 
similar  to  that  with  which  bishop  Marten,  of  Linkoping, 
five  years  before',  was  displaced.  Johannes  Finne,  then 
present  in  Westeras,  challenged  the  bishops  to  a  disputation, 
a  challenge  which  they  did  not  accept. 

It  was  natural  that  the  city  whose  teachers  were  dis- 


REFORMATION   IN    SWEDEN.  565 

covered  to  have  fallen  away,  should  attract  to  itself  general 
observation,  and  the  conduct  of  the  papists  was  resented. 
In  Stockholm,  notwithstanding  the  riots  of  1580,  a  Roman 
catholic  congregation  had  been  kept  up,  which  celebrated 
divine  service  in  a  private  house.  Now,  or  soon  after  this 
time,  their  service  was  prohibited,  and  the  free  exercise  of 
their  religion  was  permitted  the  papists  only  in  Wadsten, 
until  Sigismund,  after  his  mother's  death,  took  up  his  abode 
at  Drottiningholm,  to  which  place  those  of  them  who  by 
engagements  or  occupations  wefe  not  confined  to  Stockholm 
seem  to  have  resorted. 

At  the  same  time,  and  for  the  same  reason,  a  more  strin 
gent  course  was  adopted  with  the  then  existing  college  at 
grey  monks'  holm,  near  Stockholm.  After  the  opening  of 
the  year  1580,  when  the  work  of  instruction  was  laid  waste 
by  the  scourge  of  pestilence  and  the  king's  persecution  of 
the  teachers  at  Stockholm,  the  college  at  the  holm  was  the 
only  institution  for  the  higher  kinds  of  literature  in  the 
land,  and  was  shielded  by  the  king's  special  favor.  As  the 
first  Swedish  principal  of  the  institution,  John  Billius,  was 
a  secret  papist,  he  was  removed  from  his  office. 

Qualified  teachers,  most  of  them  afterward  the  chief 
ornaments  of  the  church  and  of  the  academy  of  Upsala, 
such  as  Lars  Lselius,  Erik  Skinner,  and  Paul  Kennicius, 
were  forthwith  installed.  Books  of  instruction  and  science, 
theses  and  disputations,  bear  witness  to  a  lively  energy,  and 
among  the  most  eminent  men  of  the  following  period,  are 
to  be  found  those  who  received  their  literary  training  in 
this  institution.  These  instructors,  who  entered  on  their 
office  about  the  year  1585,  were  all  of  a  protestant  mind, 
but  at  first  undetermined  or  reserved.  If  they  did  not  side 
with  the  liturgy,  they  were  at  least  not  against  it,  until  the 
transactions  of  subsequent  years  compelled  them  to  take  a 
more  decisive  part. 

The  commencement  of  1585   was  a  moment  in  which 


566  HISTORY  OF  THL:  ECCLESIASTICAL 

the  hope  of  victory  dawned  on  the  friends  of  protestantism. 
The  archbishop  and  bishops  undertook,  upon  inquiry,  to 
exonerate  from  the  use  of  the  liturgy,  those  persons  whose 
consciences  it  wounded.  The  judgment  passed  on  Forsius, 
whose  inclination  to  popery  the  Lutheran  puritans  could 
not  separate  from  the  cause  of  the  liturgy,  was  thought, 
after  the  sufferings  of  some  years,  to  afford  them  freer  scope. 
The  old  master  Olof,  formerly  pastor  of  Stockholm,  hastened 
back,  by  the  archbishop's  permission,  to  his  flock,  and 
began  to  preach  in  the  large  church  of  Stockholm,  certainly 
not  in  the  spirit  of  a  philoliturgist.  In  like  manner  acted 
other  priests,  whom  the  king  forbade  the  pulpit.  The 
clergy  of  the  cloister  church  appear  to  have  laid  aside  the 
liturgy.  But  this  was  not  king  John's  intention.  The 
archbishop  was  severely  reproached.  Master  Olof  was  ban 
ished  the  city,  and  for  a  time  deprived  of  his  support. 
Another  clergyman,  master  Brynolf,  was  even  sent  abroad, 
and  the  priests  of  the  cloister  church  were  threatened  with 
displacement.  In  this  respect  the  year  1585  was  a  picture 
of  the  year  1580.  As  when  Klosterlasse  and  master 
Abraham  were  at  the  same  time  condemned  by  the  king,  so 
now  at  the  same  time  with  the  above-named  persons,  the 
chaplain  at  Stockholm,  Johannes  Salhmontanus,  who  fol 
lowed  the  footsteps  of  Forsius,  was  forbidden  to  perform 
divine  service.  The  king  kept  with  impartiality  the  middle 
path  of  the  liturgy,  between  the  opposing  parties. 

For  the  Roman  church  there  remained  little  more  than 
the  hope  of  better  times,  through  Sigismund.  To  save 
him  was  the  object  of  their  most  solicitous  cares.  To 
him  pope  Gregory,  a  little  before  his  death,  wrote  a 
letter,  exhorting  him  to  steadfastness.  The  new  pope, 
Sixtus  V.,  soon  after  his  own  accession  to  the  papal 
chair,  implored  Sigismund's  aunt,  queen  Anna  of  Poland, 
to  watch  over  her  nephew,  whom  he  wished  to  be  separated 
from  his  father  and  put  under  her  care.  Sixtus  wrote  also 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  567 

to  John  and  Sigismund,  thanking  God  for  the  Catholicism 
of  the  former,  and  warning  the  latter  to  shun  the  rocks 
of  heresy. 

Gregory  had  resolved  on  another  Jesuit  mission  to 
Sweden.  He  informed  Sigismund,  that,  hearing  of  his  love 
for  church  music,  he  had  selected  three  qualified  youths, 
who  were  moreover  versed  in  the  Holy  Scriptures,  and 
from  whose  musical  talents  and  conversation,  the  prince 
in  his  domestic  hours  might  be  edified.  They  were  Jesuits, 
chosen  by  Possevin,  who  also  drew  up  instructions  for  their 
guidance.  They  were  carefully  to  conceal  what  they  really 
were,  to  hide  their  dresses  and  books  from  sight,  and  during 
their  journey,  only  in  private  to  perform  their  cfevotions. 
They  were  to  announce  themselves  as  sent  by  queen  Anna 
to  her  nephew.  On  their  arrival  in  Stockholm  they  were 
to  put  themselves  in  communication  with  Nils  Brask  and 
one  father  Vandeler,  but  in  all  things  to  be  guided  by  the 
Jesuit  Simon  Nicovius.  To  the  king  they  were  to  make 
known  and  assure  him  of  the  pope's  good  will,  although 
weighty  reasons  did  not  suffer  him  to  enter  into  the  king's 
wishes  for  a  council.  If  they  did  not  gain  access  to  the 
king,  they  were  to  put  down  the  purpose  of  their  errand 
in  writing,  in  a  handsome  chirography,  in  which  the  king 
took  great  delight. 

How  these  young  men  were  received  we  know  not. 
But,  a  few  years  later,  the  king's  mind  became  so  averse 
to  the  Jesuits,  that  he  warned  Sigismund  to  beware  of 
them.  They  were  the  worst  of  priests,  and  were  wont  to 
have  one  foot  in  the  pulpit,  and  the  other  in  the  council, 
and  were  ready  to  perpetrate  any  evil,  if  only  their  pur 
poses  could  be  thereby  promoted.  He  could  not,  without 
repentance  and  grief,  reflect  upon  the  trouble  they  brought 
upon  him,  what  time  they  were  in  Sweden.  Sigismund 
ought  to  drive  them  from  him,  and  thereby  obviate 


568  HISTORY    OF   THE   ECCLESIASTICAL 

the  suspicions  which  the  Swedes  would  otherwise  harbor 
of  the  heir  to  the  throne. 

Daring  the  course  of  these  transactions,  the  episcopal 
chair  of  Striingness  became,  in  1585,  vacant  by  bishop 
Nils  Olai's  death.  The  events  which  followed,  prepared 
the  ripened  fruit  of  the  decrees  of  the  council  of  Upsala, 
which  were  the  basis  of  the  present  Swedish  church. 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  569 


CHAPTER   VII. 

CONTESTS  RESPECTING  THE  ELECTION  OP  A  BISHOP  FOR  STRANGNESS 
— SIGISMUND'S  ELECTION  TO  BE  KING  OF  POLAND— REMONSTRANCE 
OP  THE  CLEKGY  IN  CHARLES'S  DUCHY  AGAINST  THE  LITURGY— 
THE  BEGINNING  OF  THE  DEFECTION. 

(TILL  KING  JOHN  m.'s  DEATH  IN  1592.) 

AMONG  the  indefinite  parts  of  king  Gustavus  I.'s  will 
was  this,  who  was  the  church's  guardian  within  the  duchies 
apportioned  to  his  younger  sons  ?  Was  it  a  right  invented 
by  the  king,  or  had  Gustavus  thought  the  church  and  its 
discipline  so  merely  and  purely  a  separate  part  of  the  state, 
that  the  rights  of  the  dukes  in  this  respect  must  be  the  same 
as  the  other  powers  they  possessed  in  their  lands? 

But  if  he  borrowed  this  principle  from  the  neighboring 
protestant  countries,  it  cannot  be  supposed  that  he  wished 
to  annex  the  right  of  establishing  or  abrogating  within  their 
duchies  the  faith  and  worship  of  their  subjects  at  pleasure, 
as  was  sometimes  done  in  the  German  states.  He  did  not 
foresee  the  divisions  which  began  to  appear  in  the  realms 
of  protestantism  even  before  he  went  to  his  rest,  and  if  he 
regarded  the  royal  authority  as  carrying  along  with  it  the 
rights  which  he,  from  1539,  allowed  himself  to  claim,  he 
had  little  idea  that  they  would  be  used  otherwise  than  for 
the  protection  of  his  own  work.  The  matter  was  now 
brought  to  that  pass,  that  his  successor  to  the  crown  re 
garded  the  royal  right  to  consist  in  making  ordinances  other 
or  in  addition  to  those  which  marked  the  church's  condition 


570  HISTORY    OP    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

in  his  father's  time,  while  the  only  one  of  his  sons  who 
retained  the  duchy  left  him  by  his  father's  will,  considered 
it  his  princely  right  and  duty  to  uphold  his  father's  work 
in  opposition  to  the  king  himself. 

The  point  about  which,  in  the  existing  relations  and 
posture  of  the  church's  constitution,  the  question  specially 
revolved,  was  the  right  to  nominate  bishops,  a  right  which 
king  Erik  had  enforced  against  his  brother.  Between  John 
and  Charles  the  discord  in  this  respect  began  to  manifest 
itself  in  connection  with  the  demand  of  the  former,  that 
the  decree  respecting  the  liturgy  and  other  matters  passed 
in  a  council  called  for  the  whole  kingdom,  should  be  obli 
gatory  on  the  church  of  the  dukedom.  The  ordinance  of 
1582  was  answered,  by  Charles's  removal,  without  consult 
ing  the  king,  of  Nils  of  Striingness  from  the  exercise  of  his 
office,  and  by  putting  another  in  the  place  on  his  own  ducal 
authority.  He  had  previously  placed  a  styresman  or  adminis 
trator,  independent  of  the  bishop  of  Skara,  over  that  part 
of  the  diocese  which  was  subject  to  his  duchy.  But  when, 
by  the  death  of  the  occupant,  the  see  of  Skara  became 
vacant  for  a  nomination,  the  case  was  rendered  more  press 
ing  and  intricate. 

Charles,  after  the  death  of  bishop  Nils,  allowed  an  elec 
tion  to  take  place,  according  to  the  church  ordinance  of 
1571,  and  confirmed  the  election.  Not  only  was  no  respect 
paid  to  the  ordinance  of  1582,  but  scarcely,  bishop  Marten 
of  Linkoping  being  now  dead,  could  a  man  more  unaccept 
able  to  John  be  pitched  upon  than  he  who  was  now 
chosen,  the  former  professor  at  Upsala,  the  now  pastor  of 
Nykoping,  the  opposer  of  the  liturgy,  the  refugee  from  the 
vengeance  of  the  king,  the  protege  of  the  duke,  in  a  word, 
Petrus  Jones.  The  choice  of  this  man  was  an  open  defiance 
of  the  king  and  his  darling  liturgy.  It  was  not  wonderful 
that  king  John's  wrath  was  roused.  He  declared  the 
election  invalid,  made  without  consulting  him,  and  an  in- 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  571 

fraction  of  his  royal  rights.     lie  threatened  the  people  of 
the  duchy  with  outlawry  if  they  sustained  the  election. 

Charles,  and  the  priests  and  people  of  his  duchy,  remained 
unmoved.  Petrus  Jonas,  however,  was  not  episcopally 
consecrated,  a  matter  on  which  probably  he  and  the 
duke  laid  little  stress,  but  which,  if  the  consecration  was 
to  be  performed  by  bishops,  could  not  be  brought  to 
pass,  while  the  controversy  with  the  king  was  unsettled, 
since  the  elected  would  be  acknowledged  neither  by  the 
king  nor  by  the  bishops.  He  did  not  remove  to  Striingness, 
but  retained  his  pastorate  of  Nykoping,  and  abode  there. 
But  from  the  hour  he  was  placed  at  the  head  of  the  clergy 
of  the  duchy,  he  made  their  views,  struggles,  and  dangers, 
his  own,  and  chiefly  through  him  and  other  men  of  note, 
united  to  him  by  the  persecution  against  the  anti-liturgists, 
the  passive  was  converted  into  an  offensive  opposition. 
The  strong  position  they  were  able  to  assume  by  virtue  of 
the  case  itself,  together  with  the  learning  and  suffering  of 
its  supporters,  caused  the  numbers  of  the  opponents  of  the 
liturgy  to  increase.  One  by  one  of  its  friends  fell  off, 
so  that  at  the  death  of  king  John,  scarce  a  voice  was  raised 
in  defence  of  his  most  dear  and  cherished  work. 

Soon  after  the  election  of  Petrus  for  bishop,  there  was 
held  at  Orebro  a  council,  whose  decree,  issued  in  the  name 
of  king  John,  decidedly  announced  the  position  tahen  by  the 
duchy.  It  began  to  be  perceived  that  the  Reformation  had, 
in  many  points,  degenerated  from  its  first  plan  and  direction 
in  1527,  and  in  others  had  taken  a  direction  whose  con 
sequences  were  now  regarded  as  pernicious.  A  reform  of 
all  this  was  to  be  essayed.  He  who  railed  at  "  the  Chris 
tian  doctrine  and  our  Swedish  customs"  was  to  be  instructed 
and  admonished  by  the  priests,  and  if  he  did  not  amend, 
was  to  be  given  up  to  the  prince.  The  ceremonies  at 
divine  service,  were,  without  alteration,  to  be  observed,  as 
was  customary  a  long  time  after  the  Reformation,  and  as 


572  HISTORY    OF   THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

by  a  decree  of  the  council  of  Upsala  in  1572,  they  had 
been  generally  practised. 

The  ordinantia  and  liturgy  indeed  were  not  expressly 
named,  but  a  cut  is  evidently  aimed  at  them  in  the  clause, 
that  the  people  should  be  instructed  in  the  difference  be 
tween  God's  word  and  ';  these  church  usages  and  gestures, 
which  are  established  only  on  human  authority."  A  pro 
test  against  the  king's  intrusion  into  the  management  of  the 
church's  discipline,  is  apparent,  in  the  covert  language  of 
the  direction,  that  as  the  recess  of  Westerns  allows  it,  in  an 
action  between  a  priest  and  layman  judgment  should  be 
administered  according  to  the  law  of  Sweden,  but  in  what 
concerns  the  doctrine  and  conduct  of  priests,  and  in  cases 
of  conscience,  the  heads  of  the  church  should  have  the  free 
and  independent  exercise  of  judgment,  without  any  inter 
ference  of  the  temporal  power. 

We  connect  this  ordinance  with  the  troubles,  represented 
the  same  year  by  the  bishops,  as  caused  by  the  king's  inter 
ference  with  the  affairs  of  the  church ;  and  we  find  a  general 
effort  on  the  part  of  the  church,  in  consequence  of  John's 
oppressive  measures,  to  recover  itself  from  an  unsettled  con 
dition,  to  a  law-established  freedom.  The  principles  of 
the  year  1539  had  been  learned  by  experience.  A  return 
to  the  ordinantia  of  Westeras  was  the  resolution,  that  the 
heads  of  the  church  (the  name  bishop  was  avoided)  should 
give  judgment  in  cases  of  marriage,  which  the  king  had 
been  in  the  habit  of  deciding. 

In  regard  to  the  bestowal  of  benefices,  it  was  prescribed 
that  the  applicants  should  first  be  strictly  examined  by  the 
heads  of  the  church,  and  afterward  referred  to  the  prince 
for  letters  of  confirmation.  The  purpose  of  this  evidently 
was  to  obviate  a  bad  practice  in  the  time  of  John,  and  also 
before  and  after,  of  sending  priests  from  the  governing  tem 
poral  authorities  to  the  bishops,  with  a  command  to  provide 
the  priests  so  sent  with  benefices,  irrespective  of  a  trial 


REFORMATION   IN    SWEDEN.  573 

of  their  competency.  This  was  also  a  rectification  of  the 
abuse,  which  had  arisen  from  the  right  of  inspection  and 
oversight  given  by  the  ordinantia  of  Westeras  to  the  king. 

The  recess  of  Westeras  had  declared  it  to  be  the  duty 
of  the  priests  to  have  a  care  and  make  an  inventory  of  the 
two  thirds  of  the  tithes  withdrawn  to  the  crown.  That 
declaration  was  now  interpreted  to  mean,  that  those  clergy 
should  consider  themselves  bound  to  do  this,  "  inasmuch  as 
churches,  pastors,  schoolmasters,  and  hospitals,  were  to  be 
supported  from  such  resources."  The  transfer  of  these 
tithes  to  any  other  purpose  was  disapproved. 

The  articles  were  not  calculated  to  diminish  king  John's 
dissatisfaction  with  the  duke,  which  many  other  causes 
raised  to  a  degree  that  threatened  the  breaking  out  of  a  war 
between  the  brothers.  In  vain  did  the  duke,  by  a  messen 
ger,  represent  to  the  king  that  the  clergy,  in  the  election, 
acted  in  conformity  with  the  church  ordinances  printed  and 
acknowledged  by  the  king,  who  had  prescribed  no  investi 
gation  into  the  case  before  the  election  was  made,  while 
the  king's  right  of  confirmation  could  only  be  valid  for  the 
person  whom  the  duke  had  previously  accepted.  The  king 
avowed  his  unwillingness  to  accept  Petrus  Jonoe,  because 
he  disturbed  the  kingdom,  and  moreover  had  treated  his 
sovereign  with  disrespect. 

The  diet  of  Wadsten,  in  February,  1587,  was  designed 
to  settle  these  as  well  as  other  contested  points  between 
John  and  Charles.  With  respect  to  the  election  of  a 
bishop,  it  was  resolved  that  the  archbishop  and  his  chapter, 
together  with  the  clergy  of  the  see  of  Striingness,  should 
nominate  three  of  the  clergy  of  that  see,  with  the  exception 
of  any  who  had  fallen  under  the  king's  displeasure.  Out 
of  these  three  the  king  should  nominate  the  bishop.  The 
nominated  should  take  the  customary  oath  of  allegiance  to 
the  king,  and  with  a  due  correspondence  of  obligation, 
also  to  the  prince.  The  nominated  should  have  the  same 
powers  of  office  as  other  bishops  of  the  kingdom. 


574  HISTORY    OF   THE   ECCLESIASTICAL 

The  schools  of  Marienholm  and  Carlstadt,  established  by 
the  duke,  were  to  be  continued,  and  twelve  benefices  were  1 
appropriated,  in  which  to  collect  parochial  alms  for  the  sup-  l 
port  of   the  scholars.       These  alms  the  duke  had,  by  his 
own  authority,  withdrawn  from  the  schools  of  Skara,  to  be 
applied    to    those  portions  of  Skara  contained  within  his 
duchy. 

On  some  few  points  an  agreement  could  not  be  effected. 
Among  these,  was  that  of  the  ordinantia  and  liturgy.  On 
this  point,  it  is  said,  in  treating  of  an  arrangement  that  as 
the  church  ordinance  of  1571  was  not  annulled  by  the 
ordinantia  of  1575,  and  as,  to  the  order  of  the  mass,  nothing 
was  added  by  the  liturgy,  except  some  godly  prayers  and 
songs  of  praise,  and  as  the  smaller  congregations  in  the 
duchy  ought  not  to  oppose  themselves  to  what  the  greater 
number  and  the  most  distinguished,  such  as  the  archbishop, 
had  recognized,  so  ought  this  book,  even  within  the  duchy, 
to  be  received  and  accepted.  But  as  the  duke  could  not 
pledge  himself  by  any  promise  for  the  clergy  of  his  duchy 
now  absent,  the  subject  should  be  postponed  to  a  church 
council,  which  the  king,  sometime  hence,  would  cause  to 
be  called  together. 

The  fixedness  of  purpose  with  which  duke  Charles  now 
came  forward  as  the  head  of  the  misoliturgists,  and  the  ref 
erence  of  the  decision  of  the  liturgical  question  to  the 
clergy  of  the  duchy  and  a  church  council,  warned  Charles 
to  arm  himself  and  his  priests  for  the  contest  which  could 
not  longer  be  avoided. 

He  hastened  to  summon  the  exiled  master  Abraham  to 
the  assistance  of  the  cause  of  protestantism.  With  him 
the  duke  does  not  appear,  after  he  left  him,  in  1583,  in 
Germany,  to  have  established  any  correspondence.  But 
now,  on  Charles's  summons,  he  came  forward  as  the  fore 
most  warrior  against  the  liturgy,  although  remote  from 
fatherland.  He  was  desired  by  the  duke,  soon  after  the 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  575 

diet  of  Wadsten,  to  visit  the  universities  of  Leipsig,  Wittenberg, 
and  Helmsted,  and  send  home  their  written  opinions  of  the 
liturgy ;  and  the  duke  sent  him  letters  of  recommendation, 
with  money  for  his  journey,  and  soon  after  a  copy  of  the 
liturgy,  which  did  not  reach  its  destination. 

lie  fulfilled  the  commission  :  and  opinions  from  those 
academies,  and  from  the  theological  faculty  of  Frankfort  on 
the  Oder,  arrived.  They  find  in  the  liturgy  the  same  faults 
which  had  been,  and  continued  to  be,  in  the  controversial 
writings  of  the  day,  the  subject  of  criticism  in  Sweden. 
Wittenberg  remarks,  moreover,  that  as  the  Jesuits  had 
spread  the  report,  that  by  their  means  Sweden  would  be 
recovered  to  the  obedience  of  the  Roman  church,  there  was 
abundant  reason  for  going  forth  entirely  from  Babylon,  and 
not  halting  between  two  opinions.  Leipsig  compares  the 
liturgy  to  a  whitened  sepulchre,  outwardly  beautiful,  but 
inwardly  full  of  dead  men's  bones,  and  all  uncleanness ;  and 
accuses  it  of  ascribing  the  work  of  the  devil  to  the  Holy 
Ghost.  The  most  passionate  of  these  opinions  was  that  of 
Helmsted,  which  observes,  thai  when  the  archbishop  speaks 
in  the  preface,  of  the  wild  beasts  of  superstition  and  pro 
fanity,  he  was  himself  a  third,  the  devouring  wolf  in  sheep's 
clothing. 

But  the  zeal  of  master  Abraham,  praised,  salaried,  and 
incited  by  the  duke,  did  not  cease  with  the  procuring  of 
these  documents.  In  the  autumn  of  the  same  year,  he  pub 
lished  a  collection  of  the  opinions  of  the  German  divines 
and  theologians  on  church  usages,  and  how  far  there  might 
be  similarity  in  them  to  the  church  of  Rome.  The  work 
was  dedicated  to  the  preachers,  shepherds,  and  servants  of 
the  gospel,  in  all  the  Swedish  dioceses  who  truly  taught 
God's  word,  and  guarded  the  faith  that  sanctifies. 

He  now,  also,  undertook  an  edition  of  the  writings  of 
Laurentius  Petri  the  elder,  those  to  which  we  have  before 
alluded,  and  those  which  had  not  yet  appeared  in  print. 


576  HISTORY   OF   THE   ECCLESIASTICAL 

They  commanded  respect  from  the  name  of  the  author,  were 
applicable  to  the  church's  present  relations,  and  were  ren 
dered  still  more  so  by  a  preface  and  dedication.  This  lat 
ter  was  made  to  the  qneen  Gunilla,  the  princess  Ann,  and 
the  archbishop  and  bishops  of  Sweden.  In  it,  the  author 
very  respectfully  addresses  the  king  and  bishops,  severely 
scourges  the  liturgy,  "  the  Herbestic,  Possevinic  practices," 
and  its  underwriters. 

These  books  were  imported  into  Swedish  ports,  in  defi 
ance  of  the  prohibition  against  Swedish  books  printed 
abroad,  and  were  dispersed  by  the  misolitnrgists  all  over  the 
kingdom.  A  bitter  controversial  tract,  by  Abraham, 
against  the  Archbishop  and  his  party,  was,  in  1587,  sent  to 
the  friends  of  the  author  in  the  duchy,  and  circulated  by 
them,  through  copies  of  it,  within  the  dominions  of  the 
king. 

But  while  these  firebrands  from  the  exiled  master  Abra 
ham  were  being  cast  into  his  fatherland,  the  war  of  opin 
ions  had  burst  into  a  full  flame.  Immediately  after  the 
diet  of  Waclsten,  the  duke  sent  to  Petrus  Jonne  and  the  chap 
ter  of  Striingness,  his  court  preacher,  Matthias,  to  consult 
with  them  what  was  now  to  be  done.  It  was  proposed  to 
call  together  the  clergy  of  the  diocese,  for  common  consulta 
tion.  The  priests  and  theologians  of  the  diocese  should, 
each  one  for  himself,  be  prepared  to  speak  his  sentiments  of 
the  liturgy.  This  council  of  priests  Avas  opened  on  the 
fourth  of  May.  Its  members  were  all  assembled  in  about  a, 
week's  time,  and  each  individual  pronounced  his  opinion, 
which,  agreeably  to  the  spirit  that  reigned  in  the  body,  was 
a  disapproval. 

The  most  learned  and  eminent  remained  behind,  and  sup 
ported  by  the  duke  for  a  month's  time,  either  singly  or  by 
pairs,  wrought  out  in  form  their  reflections.  The  writings 
published  against  the  liturgy,  at  the  commencement  of  the 
controversy,  by  Petrus  Jonas,  Olof  Luth,  and  Martinus  Olai, 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  577 

xvere  accurately  examined.  The  most  complete  and  argu 
mentative  opinion  at  this  time  produced,  was  that  jointly 
composed  by  Olaus  Marten,  bishop  Marten's  son,  and  the 
learned  Matthias  Mafci  Molla&us.  It  was  welcomed  for 
the  most  part,  as  the  general  sentiment  of  the  clergy  of  the 
diocese.  The  clergy  in  the  districts  oT  Vermland  and 
Valla,  and  Wadsbo,  had  not  participated  in  the  transactions 
at  Striingness.  The  duke  sent  the  document  to  the  superin 
tendent  Jesper  Marci  for  their  opinion,  which  was  furnish 
ed  in  accordance  with  that  given  by  the  members  that  met 
at  Striingness. 

This  opinion  disapproves  of  the  liturgy.  It  was  regarded 
as  unnecessary,  because  the  former  order  of  the  mass  was 
conformable  to  God's  word,  because  scandal  should  be 
avoided,  and  the  liturgy  warred  with  the  pledge  given  at 
"Westerns,  in  1544,  with  the  conftu-iion  of  the  Interim  in 
1549,  and  with  the  church  ordinance,  which,  in  1571,  had 
been  accepted.  The  clergy  of  the  dio/'ese  of  Striingness  had 
also  pledged  themselves  at  Nykoping,  in  1576,  not  to  intro 
duce  new  ceremonies.  It  was  regarded  as  an  attempt  to 
darken  the  light  of  truth,  and  open  a  door  to  popery.  Soon 
after  the  death  of  Laurentius  Petri  the  elder,  there  began  to 
be  an  approximation  to  popery  ;  "  until  the  book  called  the 
multiplication  of  church  ordinances,  and  that  written  in 
the  year  1575,  under  the  pretext  of  extraordinary,  but  false 
piety,  and  with  crafty  forms  of  expression,  came  out ;"  and 
afterwards,  "in  an  evil  hour,"  followed  the  liturgy.  At 
tention  had  not  been  paid  to  God's  command,  that  we  should 
not  be  unequally  yoked  together  with  unbelievers.  It  was 
held  to  be  filled  with  errors  and  false  ceremonies,  and  it  used 
phrases  liable  to  misinterpretation.  An  illustration  where 
of  was  afforded  by  Possevin's  assertion  in  his  answer  to 
Chytneus,  that  the  word  "'oblation,"  which  appears  in  the 
Swedish  liturgy,  was  precisely  that  which  signified  the  offer 
ing  in  the  Roman  mass.  It  had  occasioned  much  evil  in 

25 


578  HISTORY  OF  THE  ECCLESIASTICAL 

the  kingdom.  Under  this  head  were  enumerated  the  ruir 
of  the  college  at  Upsala,  the  establishment  of  a  popisl 
school  at  Stockholm,  under  Klosterlasse,  "  who  was  vcrj 
dexterous  in  deluding  simple  youth ;  "  the  sending  youths 
to  Jesuit  academies,  from  which  coming  home  they  circula 
ted  false  opinions,  and  yet  were  held  in  honor  while  others 
were  despised  and  persecuted  ;  the  qualms  of  conscience  ir 
those  who  accepted  the  liturgy,  and  lastly,  the  sale  of  popisl 
books  translated  into  Swedish. 

With  papists,  sacramentarians,  and  anabaptists,  the) 
wished  to  have  nothing  in  common.  They  hoped  thai 
neither  the  king  nor  any  other  would  require  them  to  intro 
duce  the  liturgy  into  their  congregations,  and  by  so  doing 
prove  the  truth  of  the  union  or  agreement  to  which  the  dicl 
of  Wadsten  had  referred. 

The  opinion  was  distributed  to  all  the  priests  of  the 
duchy,  through  the  medium  of  copies,  which,  by  order  of 
the  duke,  were  made  by  the  teacher's  dictation  to  the 
scholars.  It  was  also  circulated  throughout  the  dominions- 
of  the  king,  with  proper  precautions  for  the  personal  securi 
ty  of  the  messengers. 

These  things  occurred  at  the  time  Sigismund  went  over  tc 
Poland,  to  receive  the  crown  vacated,  on  December  12, 
1586,  by  the  death  of  Stephen  Bathoris.  King  John  and 
the  council  of  the  kingdom  were  anxious  to  secure  for  the 
Swedes  in  Poland  ecclesiastical  and  religious  freedom  ;  the 
council  looking  to  the  exercise  of  their  own  authority  in  re 
lation  to  the  latter,  and  both  they  and  the  king,  to  the 
liturgic  services  in  relation  to  the  former.  On  the  same 
days  that  the  clergy  of  the  duchy,  under  duke  Charles's  pro 
tection,  were  seeking  at  Strangness  to  ward  oft"  the  liturgy, 
as  the  entering  wedge  of  popery  and  the  occasion  of  much 
evil  in  the  kingdom,  the  king  and  council  at  Wadsten  were 
devising  means  for  guarding  this  service,  king  John's  church 
constitution,  against  his  son's  papistry. 


REFORMATION   IN    SWEDEN.  579 

Sigismund  should,  when  in  his  father's  life-time,  visiting 
Sweden,  not  have  more  priests  in  his  court  than  hitherto. 
He  should  afterwards  not  bring  with  him  more  than  ten, 
and  take  them  again  with  him  when  he  left  the  land,  and 
not  allow  them,  while  staying  here,  any  service  in  churches 
and  schools,  or  suffer  them  to  revile  the  religion  of  the  land. 
The  free  exercise  of  religion  should  not  be  allowed  those 
who  were  of  another  faith,  unless  the  king,  on  some  special 
occasions,  saw  reason  to  give  his  assent.  The  Swedes  who 
followed  him  to  Poland  should  there  enjoy  religious  freedom. 
They  who  did  not  embrace  the  faith  recognized  in  the  cathe 
drals  of  the  land,  and  by  the  mass  of  the  people,  should  not 
be  employed  in  the  public  service,  or  be  supported  out  ot 
the  public  revenues.  The  cloisters  and  hospitals  should  be 
maintained  in  a  condition  correspondent  to  the  religion  now 
prevalent  in  Sweden.  "Wadsten  might  maintain  a  popish 
priest,  but  the  nuns  who  wished  so  to  do,  should  be  permit 
ted  to  take  the  Lord's  supper  in  both  kinds.  The  church 
ceremonies  which  were  already  accepted,  or  should  be  intro 
duced  in  king  John's  life-time,  were  not  to  be  altered.  The 
Gregorian  calendar  should  not  be  adopted.  The  incomes 
paid  to  the  archbishop,  bishops,  and  priests,  by  king  John, 
were  not  to  be  taken  from  them  by  his  successors.  For  the 
first  time,  because  these  incomes  were  considered  an  inves 
titure  of  the  crown,  it  was  now  purposed  to  secure  them 
from  the  change  apprehended  from  a  popish  king. 

While  the  king  was  endeavoring  to  secure  the  stability  of 
his  work  against  his  own  son,  he  wished  also  to  guard  that 
son  against  too  great  a  submission  to  the  Roman  chair.  He 
ought  not,  when  at  his  coronation  he  addressed  the  pope  by 
letter,  to  use  the  word  obedience  (obedicntia),  because  it  en 
croached  too  much  upon  the  kingly  dignity,  but  to  use  the 
word  olliyation,  (obsequium).  Thus  had  John  acted  tow 
ards  Gregory  XHI.  Pope  Sixtus  V.,  who  opposed  Sigis- 
mund's  election,  deserved  not  greater  honor.  He  was  not 


580  HISTORY    OF    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

to  speak  of  foot-kissing,  (the  common  expression,  cum 
devota  osculutione  pedum)  since  it  would  stir  the  ill  blood 
of  Swedish  men,  who  from  Sigismund's  too  great  reverence 
for  the  pope,  might  apprehend  the  bringing  in  of  the  inqui 
sition.' 

If  the  king  and  father  was  disturbed  by  these  partly 
grave  and  partly  trifling  considerations,  it  may  readily  be 
supposed  what  anxiety  the  power  of  Sigismund,  augmented 
by  the  Polish  kingdom,  awakened  in  the  protestant  people 
of  Sweden.  Precisely  at  the  period  of  these  apprehensions 
and  fears,  appeared  the  declaration  of  the  clergy  of  the  dio 
cese  of  Striingness  against  the  liturgy.  Charles  sent  a  copy 
of  it,  but  without  his  subscription,  to  the  king. 

Any  audacious  attempt  to  wrest  from  him  or  to  dishonor 
his  crown,  would  probably  have  less  embittered  king  John, 
than  this  onslaught  made  upon  his  darling  work :  an  attack 
made  on  one  side,  while  he  was  busily  engaged  in  guarding 
it  from  danger  on  another  and  an  opposite.  One  only  of 
the  more  eminent  men  who  were  banished  for  the  sake  of 
the  liturgy,  had  found  a  rest  in  the  grave.  The  others  again 
came  forward,  not  alone  and  unsupported,  but  in  combina 
tion  with  the  whole  clergy  of  Charles's  dukedom,  and  the  king 
could  not  avoid  foreboding  that,  this  open  declaration  would 
now,  more  than  ever,  find  an  echo  in  the  rest  of  the  Swed 
ish  church. 

His  wrath  was  without  bounds.  He  issued  a  patent 
against  these  traitors,  grand-liars,  faith-breakers,  blasphe 
mers,  ignorant,  good-for-nothing  assheads,  and  every  other 
nickname  his  anger  could  invent.  They  ought  to  know 
that  the  word  ojfereimus  does  not  signify  we  sacrifice,  but  wo 
present  Christ,  which  is  done  in  the  heart,  in  belief,  in 
prayer.  They  appealed  to  the  council  of  Westerns  in  1544, 
but  they  neither  kept  its  decrees,  nor  were  there  many  of 
them  left  by  whom  it  was  comprehended.  They  ought,  by 
the  doom  of  displacement  against  Forstius  in  1585,  to  have 


REFORMATION   IN    SWEDEN.  531 

perceived  that  the  king  did  not  approve  the  management  of 
the  popish  priests.  They  called  the  king  and  his  faithful 
men  papists.  They  should  call  themselves  Satanists  ;  "  since 
they  obeyed  the  devil,  who  is  the  father  of  lies."  They  ex 
cused  themselves  on  the  plea  that  they  must  follow  God 
rather  than  men  ;  the  same  plea  common  in  the  mouth  "  of 
Nils  Dacke,  when  he  engaged  in  his  treasonable  practices 
against  king  Gustavus."  Having,  now,  these  many  years, 
provoked  the  king  to  wrath,  he  could  no  longer  endure  such 
limbs  of  Satan,  but  proclaimed  the  priests  of  the  districts  of 
Sodermanland,  Norike,  Vermland,  Wadsbo,  and  Valla, 
outlawed.  If  any  of  them  showed  himself  outside  the  duchy, 
he  should  be  seized  and  held  in  custody,  until  he  became 
converted  or  convinced,  by  God's  pure  and  clear  word.  All 
their  goods  and  inheritance  not  in  the  duchy,  should  be 
sequestered.  The  priests  and  teachers  within  the  king's  do 
mains,  who  participated  in  the  like  opinions,  should  be 
treated  in  the  same  manner. 

In  the  first  century  of  the  Reformation,  it  was  not  un 
common  with  any  party,  to  utter,  in  the  name  of  the  Holy 
One,  the  most  violent  language  of  human  passion.  If  the 
king  could  forget  himself  to  the  degree  which  this  patent 
testifies,  it  is  not  to  be  expected  that  the  crowd  of  after- 
speakers  would  weigh  their  words.  A  lampoon,  containing 
the  most  virulent  sallies  against  Luther,  the  Reformation, 
and  clergy  of  the  duchy,  was  circulated  through  the  land, 
and  was  particularly  remarkable  and  influential,  from  being 
regarded  as  the  composition  of  one  or  more  of  the  king's 
secretaries.  It  called  forth  from  Petrus  Jonoe  and  Olaus 
Martini,  a  calm  and  dignified  answer,  which  by  the  side  of 
this  cruel  scorn  of  the  work  of  the  Reformation  and  its  fore 
most  man,  from  the  adherents  of  the  liturgy,  could  not  but 
operate  advantageously  for  the  cause  it  defended.  The  an 
swer  was  circulated  over  the  dominions  of  the  king. 

But  the  king  stopped  not  at   the  point  of  issuing  the 


582  HISTORY    OF    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

patent.  His  bailiffs  were  enjoined  to  keep  a  watchful  eye 
upon  the  priests  of  the  duchy.  The  extreme  men  on  either 
side  were  to  be  checked.  The  castellan  of  Stockholm  was 
directed  to  summon  L.  Forsius,  who  was  still  to  be  found  in 
the  city,  and  "  roundly  reprove  him  "  for  spreading  popish 
errors,  whereby  the  king  and  his  true  men  were  exposed  to 
the  suspicion  of  being  papists.  Both  he  and  Hans  Kantor, 
whom  the  king  accuses  of  contemning  God's  word,  and  ca 
lumniating  the  sacrament,  should  be  threatened  with  severe 
punishment.  The  bishops  and  chapters  were  written  to  on 
the  subject  of  the  treason  of  the  clergy  of  the  duchy.  The 
patent  was  read  aloud  in  the  churches.  On  the  28th  of 
April,  there  were  assembled  at  Borgholm,  the  clergy  of 
Oeland,  and  a  part  of  Smaland,  with  the  bishop  of  Wexio ; 
and  the  king  made  them  a  speech.  This  speech,  which  is 
entirely  in  harmony  with  his  other  expressions,  specially 
testifies  to  his  conceited  blindness,  which  made  him  believe 
himself  the  only  wise  man.  Pie  boasts  of  his  erudition  and 
learning,  and  he  considered  deviation  from  hi*  views  of 
faith,  as  rebellion  and  treason  against  his  kingly  authority. 
A  like  meeting  was  held  at  Stegeborg,  with  the  clergy  of 
Eastgotha,  who  signed,  as  before,  a  declaration  against  the 
clergy  of  the  duchy,  but  only  a  part  of  them,  constrained  by 
the  king's  secretary,  without  knowing  what  they  signed. 

The  king's  patent  was  spread  even  within  the  dukedom. 
In  Striingness,  it  had  already  been  made  known  at  the  fair 
gathering,  and  the  chapter  applied,  with  anxiety  to  the 
duke,  inquiring  what  they  ought  to  do.  They  inquired  of 
him,  whether,  in  order  to  avoid  the  king's  accusations,  an  in 
vestigation  ought  not  to  be  instituted  in  every  benefice,  so  that 
every  one  might  legally  testify  to  the  life  and  doctrine  of  the 
priests.  This  was  virtually  a  project  of  appeal  from  the 
king  to  the  people.  They  proposed,  further,  to  submit  their 
confession  of  faith  to  be  tried  by  the  council  of  the  king 
dom,  and  to  publish  a  justification  of  themselves  in  answer 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  583 

to  the  king's  letter.  They  petitioned,  lastly,  for  protection 
of  their  property  lying  beyond  the  duchy,  and  for  liberty  to 
go  to  it  when  they  pleased.  The  duke  answered  them 
calmly,  and  promises  protection,  but  advises  circumspection 
and  "  a  gentle,  answer,"  that  their  silence  might  not  be 
misconstrued.  To  his  bailiffs  he  wrote  to  watch  over  the 
safety  of  the  priests,  so  that  they  should  suffer  no  violence, 
as  long  as  they  resided  within  the  limits  of  the  dukedom. 

In  conformity  with  what  had  been  agreed  upon,  the 
clergy  convened  at  Orebro,  and  thence  sent  out  letters  to  the 
king  and  others,  but  more  full  to  the  council  of  the  king 
dom,  to  the  bishops  and  inferior  clergy  of  Sweden,  remark 
able  for  the  calm  and  temperate,  but  at  the  same  time,  firm 
tone  in  which  they  are  written.  They  transmitted  also  to 
the  king,  a  Latin  confession,  reiterating  the  reasons  which 
hindered  their  acceptance  of  the  liturgy.  The  time  was 
now  come,  when  the  Swedish  protestant  churches  were  to 
seek  safety  in  confessions  of  faith  of  more  general  validity, 
and  more  widely  known.  The  clergy,  therefore,  of  the 
duchy,  who  now  came  forward  in  the  cause  of  the  church, 
in  order  to  defend  themselves  against  the  charge  of  being 
betrayers  of  the  faith,  expressly  appealed  to  the  confession 
of  Augsburg,  of  the  year  1530,  and  to  doctor  Luther's 
smaller  catechism,  translated  into  S\vedish,  as  embodying  a 
summary  of  the,  truth  contained  in  the  writings  of  the 
prophets  and  apostles. 

They  repelled  the  charge  of  treason.  What  they  spoke 
and  wrote  against  the  liturgy,  did  not  militate  against  the 
obedience  they  owed  their  lord  and  king.  "  The  weapons 
of -our  warfare,"  they  said,  in  the  words  of  St.  Paul,  "  are 
not  carnal,  but  mighty  before  God  to  the  breaking  down  of 
strongholds,  with  which  we  demolish  projects  and  every 
high  thing  that  exalteth  itself  against  the  science  of  God, 
and  bring  into  captivity  every  thought  to  the  obedience  of 
Christ."  The  king  had  doubtless,  "  in  a  hasty  manner  and  in 


584  HISTORY    OF    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

wrath,"  suffered  his  letter  to  be  published.  Xehy  prayed  for 
some  means  of  averting  his  displeasure.  The  letter  to  the 
bishops  and  inferior  clergy,  was  met  by  a  letter  from  the 
king,  in  which  he  required,  that  at  a  council  to  be  assem 
bled,  each  and  every  priest  should  express  his  opinion  of  the 
writings  of  the  priests  of  the  duchy  against'  the  liturgy,  re 
nounce  all  fellowship  with  that  body  of  clergy,  and  condemn 
their  conduct  as  ungodly  and  rebellious,  and  affirm  this 
written  declaration  with  their  names  subscribed. 

Matters  had  now  reached  the  crisis,  when  this  very  lit 
urgy,  which  was  designed  to  be  a  medium  of  union  for  the 
divided  church  parties,  menaced  a  schism  within  the  Swedish 
church.  No  diocese,  however,  appears  to  have  unreservedly 
placed  itself  on  the  side  of  the  clergy  of  the  duchy  ;  but 
either  a  declaration  such  as  the  king  asked  for  was  given, 
as  hud  been  done  at  Borgholm  and  Stegeborg  by  the  assem 
bled  clergy,  or  a  temporizing  and  more  pacific  position  was 
taken.  In  the  former  line  of  action,  the  clergy  of  the  dio 
cese  of  Wexio,  whose  bishop  favored  the  liturgy,  chiefly 
and  zealously  distinguished  themselves.  They  declared  that 
as  the  priests  of  the  duchy  had  opposed  themselves  to  Al 
mighty  God,  to  his  word  rightly  understood,  to  the  accept 
ed  order  of  the  mass,  and  to  the  king,  they  would  consider 
them  as  outlawed.  They  disapproved  their  opinions,  and 
would  hold  no  fellowship  with  them. 

Others  again  condemned  this  declaration  of  the  priests 
of  Wexio,  as  rash  and  well  nigh  ungodly.  The  priests  of 
the  duchy  had  acted  unreasonably,  when,  instead  of  await 
ing  the  church  council  which  had  been  determined  on  at 
Wadsten,  they  had,  by  their  writings  against  the  liturgy, 
aggravated  the  difficulties  of  reconciliation  and  peace.  It 
could  not  be  denied"  that  in  the  liturgy  there  was  one  or 
another  particular  that  needed  to  be  altered,  that  there  oc 
curred  superstitious  usages  and  objectionable  forms  of  ex 
pression.  But  one  ought  not,  therefore,  to  pronounce  dam- 


REFORMATION   IN    SWEDEN.  585 

nation  on  his  brother,  who  had  the  same  foundation  of 
faith,  and  administered  the  sacrament  in  the  same  manner 
as  other  priests  of  the  congregations  in  the  kingdom.  A 
sin  would  thereby  be  committed  against  God's  prohibition, 
to  judge  another's  servant,  the  old  Swedish  order  of  the 
mass,  would  thereby  be  condemned,  and  indeed  the  whole 
Swedish  church,  by  which,  for  forty  years,  it  had  been  used. 
It  would  also  be  bearing  false  witness,  if,  as  the  clergy  of 
the  see  of  Wexio  had  done,  it  was  said  that  the  priests  of 
the  duchy  erred  against  God  and  the  right  understanding 
of  his  word  by  refusing  to  accept  of  some  ceremonies,  whose 
dissimilarity,  like  dissimilar  forms  of  expression,  should  in 
their  view  sever  the  unity  of  faith  and  charity. 

If,  moreover,  in  despite  of  the  king's  own  assurances, 
they  accused  him  of  a  design  to  introduce  popery,  or  if  they 
plotted  rebellion,  all  intercourse  with  them  should  be  with- 
holden.  But  on  the  question  of  the  liturgy,  there  should 
be  nothing  further  done,  till  a  request  had  been  made  the 
king  to  call  together  a  provincial  council  of  the  Swedish 
church.  Possibly,  by  mutual  conference,  the  controversy 
might  be  laid  to  rest,  if,  the  first  preface  and  notes  upon  the 
liturgy  being  removed,  a  new  preface  and  -notes  explained 
what  in  the  mass  book  or  liturgy,  had  given  occasion  to 
scandal. 

The  project  for  conciliation,  noble  and  cheering  by  its 
aims,  and  by  the  probability  of  its  being  effected,  was  made 
public  in  a  series  of  reflections  from  the  pen  of  the  school 
master  at  Upsala,  Petrus  Petri,  at  the  time  when  a  council 
of  the  clergy  of  the  archdiocese  was  to  be  opened,  at  which 
it  was  feared  the  archbishop  would  press  the  recognition  of 
the  king's  demands.  These  reflections  sufficiently  well  ex 
pressed  the  general  sense  of  the  diocese,  to  which  Petrus 
Jonas  and  Abraham  Andrere  by  birth  belonged,  and  in 
which  they  both  began  their  war  against  the  liturgy.  The 
priests  of  the  diocese  of  Upsala,  also  declared  their  acquies- 


586  HISTORY    OF    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

cence  in  this  project.  They  admitted  that  the  clergy  of  the 
duchy  had  occasioned  much  discord  and  skeptical  confusion. 
by  disapproving  of  the  order  of  the  mass,  and  crying  out 
against  those  who  followed  it  as  men  papistically  inclined. 
They  had  done  as  the  king  had  done,  "  gone  too  far."  For 
themselves,  they  would  neither  digress  from  the  faith  and 
duty  becoming  subjects,  nor  from  the  liturgy.  But  they 
did  not  denounce  fellowship  with  those  clergy,  and  desired 
the  calling  together  of  a  church  council,  to  re-establish  con 
cord  and  unanimity.  This  desire  foreboded  the  approxima 
tion  of  the  council  of  Upsala. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  letter  from  the  clergy  of  the  dio 
cese  of  Strangness,  was  answered,  in  a  less  friendly  spirit, 
by  the  archbishop  and  chapter  of  Upsala.  A  correspond 
ence  by  letters,  was  carried  on,  with  repeated  accusations 
on  the  one  hand,  and  apologies  on  the  other,  respecting  the 
liturgy  and  the  clergy  of  the  duchy,  to  whom  was  imputed 
a  contempt  of  the  royal  authority,  together  with  mutual 
charges  of  papistic  and  Calvinistic  tendencies.  From 
Strangness,  it  was  proposed  that  the  dispute  should  be  deci 
ded  by  impartial  and  unexceptionable  arbitrators,  and  this 
proposition  was  accepted  at  Upsala,  on  condition  it  was  ap 
proved  by  the  king,  who  it  was  well  known  would  allow  the 
cause  to  be  determined  in  favor  neither  of  Rome  nor  Wit 
tenberg.  The  conclusion  of  the  correspondence  was,  that 
the  archbishop  and  chapter  of  Upsala  declared  all  inter 
course  forbidden  between  the  clergy  of  Upsala  and  those  of 
Strangness. 

Meanwhile,  the  books  of  master  Abraham  had  been  cir 
culated  through  the  land,  and  sustained  or  increased  the 
scruples  and  dislike  of  the  liturgy,  which  the  clergy  of 
Charles's  duchy  awaked  to  new  life.  King  John,  in  vain, 
endeavored  to  hinder  the  spread  of  these  books,  which 
against  him  addressed  themselves  to  his  people,  to  the 
clergy  and  bishops  of  the  church,  to  his  own  daughter  and 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  587 

his  wife.  He  wrote  to  the  princess  Anna,  exhorting  her  not 
to  be  seduced  by  the  writings  Abraham  dedicated  to 
her.  He  ordered  inquiry  to  be  made  of  such  as  imported  or 
sold  them,  "and  all  the  copies  to  be  seized.  Whoever  con 
cealed  them  should  lose  his  property,  and  be  indicted  as 
guilty  of  a  capital  crime. 

It  might  be  supposed,  that  the  last  years  of  king  John's 
life  and  reign,  from  1588,  would  have  brought  with  them  a 
change  in  his  views  and  measures,  as  to  the  church.  *  But 
this  was  not  the  case.  Dissatisfied  with  himself  and  his 
renewed  efforts,  wearied  with  the  opposition  that  encoun 
tered  him  on  all  sides,  longing  for  his  son  absent  in  Poland, 
and  troubled  about  him,  he  complained  of  Brahe,  Nils 
Gyllcnstjerna,  Erik  Sparre,  and  others,  who  were  now  out  of 
favor,  that  while  they  abetted  their  king  in  his  efforts  for  the 
liturgy,  they  would  themselves  not  tolerate  a  priest  who  used 
this  order  of  the  mass.  The  king  became  reconciled  to  duke 
Charles,  who  now  even  took  part  in  the  management  of  the 
kingdom.  The  duke  excused  himself  on  the  score  of  the  litur- 
gic  controversies,  inasmuch  as  he  had  neither  himself  written 
against  the  liturgy,  nor  incited  others  to  do  so,  and  of  the 
clergy  of  the  duchy  only  some  few  "  who  would  gladly  be 
wiser  than  all  others,"  had  raised  up  an  opposition. 

The  council,  in  view  of  the  prevailing  contentions,  had 
urged  an  accommodation  at  Wadsten,  and  the  clergy  of 
Upsala  in  their  declaration  against  the  diocese  of  Striingness, 
had  also  desired  a  church  council  ;  while  the  duke  himself 
had  said,  that  if  at  the  beginning  a  free  Christian  council 
could  have  been  called  together,  the  difficulties  would  have 
been  overcome,  or  at  least  the  violence  of  the  strife  been 
obviated.  There  was,  therefore,  in  1590,  an  accommoda 
tion  effected  between  John  and  Charles,  on  the  condition, 
that  a  church  council  should  be  held,  in  which  every  mem 
ber  should  have  a  free  vote  and  voice ;  but  if  an  agreement 
could  not  fee  attained  between  the  two  parties  of  the  clergy, 


588  HISTORY    OF    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

neither  should  put  a  restraint  upon  the  conscience  of  the 
other,  and  no  contentions  or  contumelious  writings  should 
pass  between  them,  but  all  should  live  with  each  other  in 
peace  and  quiet,  so  long  as  they  were  at  unity  in  the  true 
principles  of  God's  word,  however  they  might  differ  in  church 
usages.  It  might  from  this  be  supposed,  that  John  w:i* 
wavering;  but  that  very  year,  1590,  he  directed,  in  hi* 
last  will  and  testament,  that  the  confession  of  Christian 
faith*  and  worship,  which  were  accustomed  to  be  held 
and  observed  in  the  later  years  of  his  reign,  and  especially 
at  court,  should  be  held  and  observed  in  his  kingdom  after 
his  death. 

It  was  no\v,  from  1590,  agreed  on  all  sides,  to  refer  the 
subject  to  a  church  council.  But  in  the  complicated  state 
of  the  case,  this  measure  was  more  an  expedient  for  getting 
rid  of  it  for  the  present,  than  with  any  expectation  of  its 
being  thereby  immediately  and  finally  settled.  Still  did 
king  John,  before  his  death,  design  to  renew  his  vain  at 
tempt,  to  enforce  obedience  by  severity,  and  he  was  to  wit 
ness  the  commencement  of  that  decadence  and  downfall  that 
waited  on  his  work. 

About  the  middle  of  the  year  1580,  men  were  put  in 
office  at  the  college  in  Stockholm,  who  were  already  acquir 
ing  eminence  for  their  learning  and  cultivation.  Now,  and 
at  a  later  period,-  disputes  were  engendered  by  the  preference 
shown  by  many  of  these  teachers  to  the  philosophy  of 
Ramus,  in  opposition  to  that  of  Aristotle.  Ramus  had 
been  a  martyr  for  protestantism,  being  murdered  in  the 
massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew.  His  theological  tenets,  it  Ls 
said,  had  been  introduced  into  the  universities  of  Leipzig, 
Wittenberg,  and  Rostock.  These  universities  were  still 
frequented  not  only  by  the  subjects  of  duke  Charles,  but 
also  and  chiefly  by  students  from  Norrland  and  Stock 
holm,  which  were  the  birthplaces  of  those  teachers.  Their 
coming  back  hither  presaged  no  friendship  for  the  liturgy. 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  589 

They  avoided  for  some  time  all  interference  with  the  con 
troversy,  until  the  open  declaration  of  the  clergy  of  the 
duchy  and  still  more  master  Abraham's  writings,  induced 
them  to  take  part  with  the  anti-liturgists,  while  on  the 
other  hand  the  king  demanded  a  decided  acceptance  of  the 
liturgy.  The  option  was  left  them,  in  1589,  of  subscription 
to  the  liturgy  or  banishment.  Three  of  them,  Nicolaus 
Olai,  Petrus  Kenesius,  and  Ericius  J.  Schinnerus,  refused 
subscription,  and  when  in  strong  terms  they  condemned  the 
liturgy  for  the  same  reasons  as  those  of  master  Abraham 
and  the  clergy  of  the  duchy,  they  were  thrown  into  prison. 

The  same  fate  awaited  Erik  Olai  Schepper  of  Angerman- 
land,  who  became  from  this  period  very  conspicuous  in 
the  controversy.  He  was  a  man  of  restless  and  impetuous 
spirit,  was  from  1583  schoolmaster  and  then  preacher  at 
Stockholm,  had  been  a  warm  admirer  of  the  liturgy,  and 
wrote  in  its  defence.  He  acknowledged  the  difficulties 
connected  with  its  use  and  introduction,  but  remained  vacil 
lating,  until  his  friend,  Erik  Schinner,  one  day  met  him  at 
the  gate  of  Stockholm,  took  him  by  the  coat,  and  besought 
him  to  change  his  mind.  From  this  hour  he  became  a  most 
zealous  anti-liturgist,  thereby  acquiring  the  king's  dis 
pleasure,  and  from  his  former  friends  the  nickname  Turn 
coat.  King  John  endeavored  to  win  him  back,  but  failing, 
turned  him  into  ridicule,  with  the  exclamation  "  To  the 
lion  and  adder  shalt  thou  go."  Even  the  chaplains  of 
Stockholm,  Erik  Petri  and  Englebert,  were  imprisoned,  as 
was  also  the  pastor  of  Taby  in  the  archdiocese,  Johannes 
Johannis,  who  wrote  against  the  liturgy. 

Complaint  was  made  that  the  case  was  now  rendered 
more  complicated,  since  the  rejection  of  the  liturgy  was 
regarded  as  a  breach  of  loyalty,  while  it  was  not  settled 
whether  this  breach  consisted  in  mere  disobedience  to  the 
king's  will,  or  in  the  reasons  offered  for  refusing  the  mass- 
book  as  an  entering  wedge  for  popery.  Now,  as  before, 


590  HISTORY    OF    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

those  who  protested,  denied  the  king's  power  to  decide 
what  confession  of  faith  his  people  should  adopt,  but 
repelled  the  accusation  that  they  meant  any  wrong  to  the 
king's  person.  They  demanded  freedom  of  conscience,  and 
appealed  to  a  council  of  the  church.  The  three  lecturers 
at  the  college  of  Stockholm  in  vain  implored  the  arch 
bishop's  intercession.  A  paper  laid  before  them,  by  which 
they  were  to  acknowledge  that  they  had  been  misled,  they 
refused  to  sign,  because  they  would  thus  condemn  their  own 
and  the  church's  cause.  The  question  now  was  that  of 
banishment.  But  they  were  kept  in  prison  until  the  death 
of  king  John. 

The  point  of  time  was  approaching,  when  the  words  of 
freedom  that  had  been  spoken,  and  which  hitherto  had  slum 
bered  in  many  minds,  or  were  silenced  by  prudence  and  hesi 
tation,  were  to  find  a  general  echo.  At  the  commencement 
of  1591,  departed  this  life  archbishop  Andreas  Laurentii 
Bjornram,  who  had  been  the  king's  most  faithful  ally  in  the 
contest  for  the  liturgy.  That  he  sacrificed  his  convictions  to 
the  royal  favor,  in  the  zeal  he  displayed  for  promoting  the 
king's  plans,  cannot  with  full  assurance  be  maintained.  But 
lie  is  obnoxious  to  the  charge  of  being  willing,  by  means  of  the 
royal  favor,  to  force  forward  the  establishment  of  a  church 
discipline,  since  he  was  disposed  to  stigmatize  the  refusal  of 
that  discipline  as  a  breach  of  loyalty.  His  place  remained 
vacant  till  the  council  of  Upsala.  In  1587,  the  zealous 
liturgist,  bishop  Petrus  Caroli  of  Linkoping,  had  died.  To 
that  see  Petrus  Benedicti  of  Westeras  was,  in  1589,  trans 
lated,  and  in  his  fidelity  the  king  had  great  confidence. 
Olaus  Stephani  Bellinus,  pastor  of  Gefle,  was  chosen  bishop 
of  Westeras.  Of  these  changes  the  vacancy  only  of  the 
archbishopric  could  be  of  importance,  or  give  occasion  to 
fear  any  disturbance  of  the  discipline  that  had  been  set  up. 
There  was,  however,  given  a  sign  of  defection  from  a  quarter 
whence  it  could  least  have  been  expected. 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  591 

King  John  had  begun  to  give  the  city  of  Stockholm  a 
more  perfect  ecclesiastical  organization  and  division  than  it 
had  before,  by  the  appointment  of  pastors  to  the  churches 
of  Riddarholm  and  St.  Clara.  13 at,  by  the  imprisonment 
of  Schepper  and  the  two  chaplains,  a  priest  was  wanting 
for  the  congregation  of  the  large  church  or  Storkyrk,  the 
rather,  as  Petrus  Pauli,  its  pastor,  by  his  open  zeal  for  the 
liturgy  and  the  suspicion  of  his  inclination  for  popery,  had 
lost  the  confidence  of  his  flock.  The  king  adopted  the 
measure  he  had  previously  taken,  of  calling  from  the  dio 
ceses  priests  to  perform  divine  service  for  a  short  time  in 
the  city.  In  1592,  the  bishop  of  V^exio  received  an  order  to 
send  up  two  priests.  At  a  convocation  of  priests  at  Wexio, 
on  the  20th  of  May,  of  that  year,  this  matter  was  brought 
under  consideration,  in  connection  with  the  king's  inquiry 
how  the  liturgy  was  observed  in  the  diocese,  of  which  these 
clergymen  were  to  give  him  information.  On  this  occasion 
the  clergy  prepared  themselves  for  the  consequences  of  not 
accepting  the  liturgy.  They  drew  up  in  form  their  reasons 
against  it,  and  these  sufficiently  testify  to  the  influence  of 
the  confession  set  forth  by  the  clergy  of  Striingncss,  and 
particularly  of  the  writings  of  master  Abraham  ;  and  as  they 
had  formerly  been  among  the  most  zealous  to  condemn  the 
clergy  of  Charles's  duchy,  so  were  they  now  the  most  for 
ward,  under  the  leading  of  their  bishop,  to  make  amends  for 
this  uncharitable  precipitation,  by  a  resolution  to  present 
their  objections  to  the  king,  and  refuse  the  use  of  the  liturgy. 
They  pictured,  in  a  missive  to  the  king,  the  unhappy  effects 
of  the  liturgy,  which  occasioned  disturbance  to  the  con 
science,  doubts  of  the  truth  of  religion,  suspicions  and 
controversies.  Their  consciences  were  \vounded  and  made 
sore  by  the  use  of  the  liturgy,  and  they,  therefore,  begged  to 
be  delivered  from  it,  begged  not  to  be  tied  in  religion  by 
human  ordinances,  but  to  be  allowed  Christian  freedom, 
which  they  would  not  abuse  to  a  carnal  self-will.  They 


592  HISTOKY    OF    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

begged  to  be  allowed  to  return  to  the  church  practices, 
which,  before  15GO,  had  been  in  use.  But  in  order  that 
unity  might  be  restored  to  the  church  of  fatherland,  they 
requested  the  calling  together  of  a  church  council,  whose 
decree  in  respect  to  the  order  of  the  mass,  they  promised  to 
respect  and  obey. 

The  two  priests,  who  were  selected  by  the  bishop  to  be 
sent  to  Stockholm  according  to  the  order  of  the  king,  Steno 
Magni  and  Jonas  Andreas,  pastors  respectively  of  Wexio 
and  Moheda,  brought  along  with  them  the  document  and 
delivered  it. 

King  John  was  now  sick,  and  awaiting  the  approach  of 
death;  but  he  did  not  falter  in  his  resolution  respecting 
the  liturgy.  His  answer  was  severe  and  reproachful.  Par 
don  for  their  request  to  be  allowed  to  break  their  promise, 
was  all  that  the  petitioners  obtained  of  the  king.  To  par 
ticularize,  however,  the  king  said  to  the  messengers,  that  he 
allowed  them,  on  the  subject  of  the  order  of  the  mass,  to  act 
as  they  believed  they  could  conscientiously  answer  to  God 
and  the  king.  They  both  refused  to  return  with  such  an 
answer  to  their  brethren  They  received  at  last  one,  more 
gentle  but  oral,  and  accompanied  with  a  promise  that  the 
king  would  overlook  a  neglect  of  the  use  of  the  liturgy. 

The  steps  taken  by  the  bishop  and  clergy  of  the  diocese 
of  Wexio,  could  not  but  awaken  joy  and  hope,  in  propor 
tion  as  the  hearts  of  the  people  and  clergy  were  attached  to 
the  order  which  was  to  yield  to  the  liturgic.  The  men 
especially,  who  led  the  opposition  to  the  liturgy,  must  have 
hailed  the  dawn  of  the  day  of  freedom  and  release.  The 
two  messengers  from  Wexio,  received  congratulatory  letters 
from  the  imprisoned  lecturers  and  chaplains  of  Stockholm, 
testifying  their  true  faith  and  fellowship  with  them.  Mas 
ter  Abraham  exulted  at  the  news  of  their  success,  and  the 
gentle  reception  they  had  experienced  from  the  king.  Soon 
after,  bishop  Olof,  of  Westeras,  also,  in  the  name  of  his 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  593 

clergy  assembled  in  September,  1592,  forwarded  a  petition 
to  the  king  for  release  from  the  liturgy,  whose  inconsiderate 
acceptance  grieved  and  harassed  their  consciences.  It  is 
uncertain  whether  this  petition  ever  reached  the  king  dur 
ing  his  last  protracted  sickness.  By  the  opposition  he  ex 
perienced,  and  especially  by  the  defection  of  the  diocese  of 
Wexio  from  the  liturgy,  he  had  become  doubtful,  not  of  the 
truth  of  his  cause,  but  of  the  possibility  of  its  now  acquiring 
a  lasting  stability.  For  himself,  he  remained  faithful ;  re 
nounced  all  fellowship  with  the  pope ;  excused  his  inter 
ference  with  the  affairs  of  the  church,  by  its  condition  at 
the  commencement  of  his  reign,  and  by  the  judgment  of 
the  kings  of  the  Old  Testament ;  and  while  he  expressed  his 
disapproval  of  the  recall,  by  the  priests  of  Wexio,  of  their 
given  promise,  added  that  he  was  not  "  the  king  of  their 
consciences."  This  bitter  controversy  had  afflicted  his 
mind ;  and  for  four  years,  until  a  few  weeks  before  his 
death,  he  had  withdrawn  from  the  partaking  the  Lord's 
supper.  Its  reception  implied  forgiveness  of  those  who  had 
offended  and  opposed  him  ;  and  he  ordered  the  release  of 
those  who  had  been  imprisoned  on  account  of  the  liturgy ; 
which  release,  however,  did  not  take  place  before  his  death. 
This  occurred  on  the  17th  of  November,  1592. 


594  HISTORY    OF   THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 


CHAPTER    VIII. 

COUNCIL    OF    UPS  ALA. 

THE  death  of  king  John  foreboded  vehement  contentions 
and  agitations,  not  only  in  the  ecclesiastical,  but  in  the 
other  relations  of  fatherland.  The  last  years  of  his  reign 
were,  for  Sweden,  one  of  those  periods  in  a  people's  life, 
when  a  determined  and  dominant  will,  which  puts  itself 
above  law  or  the  public  opinion  which  is  stronger  than  law, 
thereby  awakens  opposition,  and  brings  everything  into  dis 
order.  The  measure  of  the  people's  dissatisfaction  was  full. 
In  the  church,  the  liturgy  which  had  been  forced  upon  them, 
had  already  begun  to  be  abandoned  ;  and  the  increasing 
opposition  which  foreboded  its  approaching  death,  gained 
from  the  king  the  order  for  release  of  the  men  who  had 
been  imprisoned  on  account  of  that  liturgy.  One  woe  had 
come;  another  was  soon  to  follow.  The  estates  had 
already  done  homage  to  John's  successor  in  the  papistic 
Sigismund.  From  his  blind  attachment  to  Jesuitism,  whose 
great  power  was  at  his  command,  and  from  his  obstinacy, 
which,  if  possible,  was  greater  than  his  father's,  the  most 
alarming  dangers  menaced  the  church's  freedom.  But  the 
last  twenty  years  had  taught  the  church  what  was  due  to 
its  freedom,  and  wherein  it  consisted.  The  sympathy  or 
acquiescence  which  was  found  for  John's  liturgy,  was  not 
to  be  calculated  on  for  Sigismund's  popery.  The  priests 
and  people  of  Sweden  had  proved  what  they  were,  and  now 
swore  allegiance  to  protestantism.  To  preserve  their  most 
eacred  inheritance,  they  must  secure,  against  their  powerful 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  595 

foe,  a  surer  foothold  than  that  which  could  be  won  on  the 
smooth  and  slippery  ground  of  the  liturgic  middle-way. 
This  necessity  was  the  doom  of  the  liturgy. 

All  were  of  one  mind,  that  the  freedom  of  the  evangelical 
confession  must  be  guaranteed  and  made  sure,  if  power  was 
left  in  king  Sigismund's  hands.  If  the  liturgy  were  not  set 
aside  before  he  returned  from  Poland,  where,  from  1587,  he 
had  been  residing,  and  where  complaints  were  made  of  his 
assaults  upon  the  liberties  of  protestants,  there  would  be 
danger  and  risk  to  the  freedom  of  God's  word  and  the  pure 
preaching  of  it,  not  less  than  when  one  carries  a  light  in  a 
furious  storm.  ?  But  if  the  king  would  not  guarantee  to  the 
land  the  freedom  of  the  Gospel,  he  had  lost  all  just  claim  to 
the  inheritance  of  the  Swedish  crown,  which  had  been 
granted  to  the  race  of  king  Gustavus  I.  ;  because  this  grant 
was  based  on  the  twofold  service  rendered  by  Gustavus,  in 
having  delivered  his  fatherland  from  foreign  foes,  and  from 
the  darkness  of  popery. 

Of  the  sons  of  king  Gustavus,  there  only  now  remained, 
since  the  demented  Magnus  was  out  of  the  question,  duke 
Charles,  in  whose  eyes  the  reformation,  carried  through  in 
his  father's  time,  was  sacred,  and  to  whom  it  was  precious 
as  a  condition  of  the  claim  of  his  race  to  the  Swedish 
throne.  General  attention  was  now  directed  to  him,  and 
his  position  in  the  commonwealth,  as  well  as  his  resolute 
character,  made  him  its  chief.  Immediately  after  king 
John's  death,  he  presented  to  the  consideration  of  the  coun 
cil,  the  project  so  often  urged  since  1587,  and  from  so  many 
quarters,  of  a  church  council,  in  which  it  might  *be  settled 
whether  the  liturgy  was  to  be  retained  or  not.  He  soon 
after  called  home  Abraham  Andreas  from  Germany.  The 
king  had  pardoned  all  who  were  out  of  favor  ;  and  the  duke 
thought  that  the  sooner  master  Abraham  came  the  better. 
He  left  also,  with  consent  of  the  council,  supplies  of  money 
for  Erik  Schepper  and  the  professors  who  had  been  released 


596  HISTORY    OF    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

from  prison,  and  who,  for  some  time,  had  been  deprived  of 
their  incomes. 

The  duke  then  had  already  agitated  the  question  of  a 
church  council.  It  was  urged  soon  after  by  a  portion  of 
the  clergy,  who,  on  the  30th  of  December,  1592,  were  as 
sembled  at  Stockholm  on  occasion  of  the  solemn  interment 
of  the  body  of  king  John.  It  had  been  promised  by  the 
deceased  king,  as  a  means  of  reconciling  all  schisms  in  the 
church  of  fatherland.  The  duke  purposed  to  lay  before  the 
council  of  the  kingdom,  his  views  on  many  points  connect 
ed  with  this  question.  One  was,  how  far  it  was  admissible 
to  announce  the  meeting  of  this  council,  without  the  king's 
knowledge,  and  before  his  return.  It  seems  to  have  been 
concluded,  that  the  council  ought  to  be  held,  because  its 
object  was  not  merely  unity  respecting  the  liturgy,  but  still 
more  to  provide  a  defence  for  the  protestant  confession 
against  the  popish  church  favored  by  the  king.  Another 
subject  of  consideration  was,  whether  the  clergy  only  should 
be  called  together,  or  the  estates  of  the  kingdom.  The 
former  was  urged  by  the  council ;  the  latter  by  the  duke,  who 
remarked,  that  as  it  was  desired  to  provide  a  safeguard 
.  against  popery,  its  practice  ought  not  to  be  followed  by  hold 
ing  only  a  council  of  priests.  There  was  no  difference  of 
opinion  upon  the  point,  that  the  clergy,  principally,  were 
the  persons  to  deliberate  and  decide  at  the  council ;  but  it 
was  made  a  question,  how  far  the  liberty  of  decision,  re 
specting  the  reform  of  the  church,  should  be  extended.  The 
council  advised  that  all  alterations  should  be  limited  to  a  re 
turn  to  tlte  condition  of  the  church  at  the  close  of  king  Gus- 
tavus's  and  beginning  of  king  John's  reign,  until  the  meet 
ing  of  the  council  of  Upsala,  in  1572  ;  an  advice  which 
seems  to  discover  a  dread  of  the  influence  of  the  duke's  Cal- 
vinistic  tendencies.  The  duke  and  council,  on  the  8th  of 
January,  1593,  gave  each  mutual  pledges,  to  maintain  in 
unison  the  government  of  the  kingdom  during  the  absence 


REFORMATION   IN    SWEDEX.  507 

of  king  Sigismund,  and  to  protect  every  man  in  the  true 
religion,  in  the  clear  and  pure  word  of  God,  according  to  the 
Augsburgh  Confession.  The  duke,  on  the  following  day,  is 
sued,  in  his  own  and  the  name  of  the  council,  a  summons 
to  the  administrators  of  the  dioceses,  to  meet  in  a  council  of 
the  church,  agreeably  to  the  request  of  the  clergy  assembled 
at  the  funeral  of  king  John.  The  council  was  to  be  opened 
at  Upsala,  on  the  25th  of  February  next,  in  order  to  estab 
lish  unity  in  doctrine  and  ceremonies,  as  had  been  purposed 
for  some  time;  to  make  decrees  regarding  these  matters 
and  church  discipline,  and  to  elect  an  archbishop  and  suffra 
gan  bishops.  The  bishops  should  be  attended  by  members 
of  their  respective  chapters,  by  the  provosts,  and  some  of 
the  most  learned  and  qualified  persons  of  each  district. 

King  Sigismund's  permission  for  holding  the  council,  was 
neither  a?kcd  nor  waited  for.  The  right  of  calling  it  to 
gether,  was  founded  upon  the  commission  which  the  king, 
on  being  advised  of  his  father's  sickness,  gave  his  uncle,  to 
watch  over  the  affairs  of  the  kingdom,  in  case  of  that 
father's  death,  and  upon  a  subsequent  authorization  for  the 
duke  and  council.  Information  thereof  was  sent  to  the 
king,  by  the  secretary  Olof  Sverkersson ;  and  the  duke  ex 
pressed  his  hope,  that  the  king  would  both  sanction  the 
calling  of  the  council,  and  the  decrees  it  should  pass.  The 
king's  assurance,  that  he  would  maintain  religious  freedom, 
and  show  neither  hate  nor  love  on  account  of  any  man's 
faith,  was  not  trusted.*. 

The  experience  of  seventy  years  lay  between  the  time  of 
opening  this  council,  and  the  time  when  the  teachers  of  the 
Reformation  began  to  preach  in  Sweden.  The  hierarchy 
had  been  shattered,  and  the  errors  were  by  degrees  cast  off, 
which  for  five  hundred  years  had  grown  and  been  rooted  in 
the  church.  King  Gustavus  had  carried  for  his  people, 
who  willingly  followed  him,  the  work  of  reformation  to  its 
summit,  and  after  the  insurrection  of  Dacke,  not  an  arm 


598  HISTORY    OF   THE   ECCLESIASTICAL 

was  lifted  in  defence  of  the  old  order  of  things,  and  only 
a  few,  who  were  pitied,  remained  attached  to  that  cause. 
While  the  king  and  people  sought  a  common  goal,  the 
principles  which  led  each  man  to  it  were  not  accurately 
triticised.  King  Gustavus  had,  in  the  last  twenty  years  of 
his  life,  acted  on  principles  Avhich  prejudiced  the  people's 
freecfom  in  matters  ecclesiastical.  But  when,  by  their 
vigorous  application,  John  first  wounded  the  love  and  affec 
tions  of  his  people,  and  when  Sigismund's  religious  convic 
tions  and  faith  threatened  to  wound  them  still  deeper,  it 
was  thought  necessary,  and  that  the  time  had  come,  when 
opposition  should  be  made  to  those  principles.  The  decree 
of  the  council  of  Upsala  was  a  solemn  protest  against  the 
principles  of  1539,  that  there  was  a  right  in  the  king  to 
determine  what  the  religion  of  the  land  should  be,  and  the 
council  itself,  indeed,  was  still  more  a  protest. 

This  protest,  whose  consequences  for  the  promotion  of 
external  quiet  and  freedom  were  incalculable,  was  attended 
by  a  grave  and  deep  toning  of  the  popular  mind.  But 
if  there  was  a  general  inclination  to  follow  duke  Charles 
and  the  clergy  of  his  duchy,  in  the  contest  against  the 
Roman  church,  and  to  a  great  extent  against  the  liturgy, 
there  was  also  a  dread  of  their  too  great  influence,  because 
they  were  suspected  of  Calvinism,  which  was  not  at  all 
acceptable  to  the  majority.  Against  this,  too,  must  the 
freedom  of  the  church  be  maintained.  The  favorers  and 
defenders  of  the  liturgy  could  not  anticipate  an  acquiescence 
in  their  views  and  measures,  but  there  was  no  certainty 
beforehand  that  a  favorable  turn  might  not  give  preponder 
ance  to  their  opinions  and  movements. 

The  clergy  assembled  at  the  appointed  time  in  large  num 
bers  at  Upsala.  There  are  reported  as  present,  four  bishops, 
Petrus  Benedicti  of  Linkoping,  Olaus  Bellinus  of  Westeras, 
Petrus  Jonae  of  Striingness,  and  Erik  Erici  of  Abo.  The 
bishops  Jacob  of  Skara,  and  Nicolaus  of  Wexio,  were,  in 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  599 

consequence  of  their  great  age,  absent.  There  were  pres 
ent,  also,  the  four  professors  who  belonged  to  the  college  of 
Stockholm,  but  who,  after  king  John's  death,  were  removed 
by  permission  of  duke  Charles  and  the  council,  to  Upsala,  to 
the  re-establishment  of  whose  academy  king  John,  before  his 
death,  had  given  his  assent.  There  were,  as  reported, 
also  present  at  the  council,  twenty-two  masters,  and  other 
priests,  to  the  number  of  three  hundred  and  six  or  three 
hundred  and  eight,  without  counting  those  who  without  a 
special  summons  were  there.  Duke  Charles  and  nine  of 
the  council  of  the  kingdom,  together  with  many  of  the 
nobles  and  some  representatives  from  the  towns  and  the 
country  were  also  present,  but  without  taking  part  in  the 
transactions  and  decrees,  with  the  exception  of  the  council 
of  the  kingdom  who  did  so  participate. 

The  day  on  which  the  council  was  called  was  the  25th 
of  February,  being  the  first  Sunday  in  Lent.  On  this  day, 
after  evening  service,  the  clergy  of  the  archdiocese  of 
Upsala  assembled  in  the  large  audience-room  of  the  college 
or  academy,  where,  afterward,  the  meetings  were  held. 
The  pastor  of  Upsala,  Joakim  Olai,  made  the  opening  ad 
dress  of  welcome,  and  spoke  of  the  reasons  for  calling  the 
council,  and  of  the  propriety  of  electing  a  prolocutor  or 
president. 

The  day  after  there  was  a  general  gathering  of  the 
members,  although  the  order  of  proceedings  was  not  yet 
settled,  and  they  seemed  to  have  waited  for  the  coming  of 
duke  Charles,  who,  on  Tuesday,  February  27,  made  his 
appearance.  On  the  previous  day,  February  2G,  bishop 
Bellinus  of  Westerns  delivered  a  long  address,  setting 
forth  the  objects  of  the  council,  to  establish  a  confession 
of  faith,  church  ceremonies,  and  discipline,  as  well  as  to 
elect  an  archbishop,  and  bishops  also,  in  place  of  those 
shepherds  of  the  flock  who  were  now  well  stricken  in 
years.  He  exhorted  to  unity  and  peace,  and  implored  the 


600  HISTORY    OF   THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

members  each  to  regard  his  brother  in  the  spirit  of  gen 
tleness  and  love. 

As  yet  nothing,  after  the  opening  of  the  council,  had 
clearly  manifested  the  tone  which  it  would  assume.  This 
was  sufficiently  indicated  the  next  day.  Professor  Erik 
Schepper  delivered  a  discourse  on  the  Holy  Scriptures,  and 
the  studies  proper  to  a  theologian.  He  commended  Luther 
and  king  Gustavus's  merits  toward  the  church,  enlarged 
against  the  Hturgists,  and  especially  against  the  bishops,  who, 
though  they  ought  to  have  discovered  the  mischievousness 
of  the  liturgy,  in  the  spirit  of  court  adulation  supported 
king  John,  who,  with  good  intentions  only,  promoted  its 
cause.  The  pastor,  Petrus  Paulinus,  was  severely  reproved 
for  one  of  his  writings  in  favor  of  the  altered  litany. 
The  church  councils  meanwhile  had  been  of  no  use,  since 
the  questions  discussed  regarded  only  subscription  to  the 
liturgy.  The  bishops,  professors,  and  the  most  eminent 
among  the  clergy,  convened  to  deliberate  on  the  rules  of 
order  and  the  course  of  proceeding  in  the  council.  On  the 
subject  of  a  prolocutor,  the  bishops  urged  the  deferring  of 
the  election  of  an  archbishop,  until  the  council  had  passed  its 
resolutions  on  other  questions.  The  professors  of  Upsala, 
and  the  clergy  of  the  archdiocese,  demanded  that  an  arch 
bishop  should  immediately  be  chosen,  because  they  could 
not  take  part  in  the  council  as  long  as  there  was  no  arch 
bishop,  nor  any  one  instead  of  an  archbishop  to  preserve 
order.  It  cannot  be  supposed,  that  a  paltry  impatience  of 
the  archdiocese's  right  of  precedence  operated  in  this  ob 
jection.  But  as  the  archbishop,  as  long  as  the  church's 
freedom  was  respected,  was  always  regarded  by  natural  right 
to  be  the  prolocutor  of  a  church  council,  or  as  at  the  first 
council  of  the  reformed  church  in  1529,  a  prolocutor  had 
been  appointed  pro  hac  rice,  while  the  archbishopric  was 
vacant,  the  wish  to  elect  an  archbishop  before  taking  up 
other  business  probably  proceeded  from  an  anxious  care  for 


REFORMATION    IX    SWEDEN".  601 

the  church's  freedom.  The  term  president  (prasses),  was 
avoided  as  a  term  of  worldly  power,  or  a  Calvinistic  form 
of  expression,  implying  a  free  election  for  the  time  being. 
Probably,  too,  the  fear  operated,  that  some  one  of  the 
priests  suspected  of  Calvinism  might  be  chosen.  There 
fore,  after  the  duke  had  come,  he  was,  on  February  28th, 
waited  upon  by  three  of  the  prominent  clergy,  the  pastors 
of  Gefle,  Tierp,  and  Ljusdal,  who  on  behalf  of  the  diocese 
requested  leave  to  proceed  immediately  to  the  election  of  an 
archbishop.  The  duke  promised  that  after  consultation 
with  the  council  of  the  kingdom,  he  would  on  the  follow 
ing  day  give  an  answer.  When  the  bishops  also  appeared 
before  the  duke,  bishop  Petrus  of  Linkoping  was  received 
with  severe  reproaches  for  his  unwise  zeal  in  promoting 
the  cause  of  the  liturgy.  The  bishop  confessed  and  depre 
cated  his  fault.  At  a  meeting  together  of  the  priests, 
Joachim,  pastor  of  Upsala,  met  with  similar  reproofs  from 
the  chancellor,  Nils  Gyllenstjerna.  Reproofs  and  apologies 
were  received  and  offered  by  several  other  clergymen. 

All  things  being  now  ready  for  the  opening  of  the  council 
and  proceeding  to  business,  the  council  of  the  kingdom, 
headed  by  chancellor  Nils  Gyllenstjerna,  entered  the  hall 
where  the  clergy  were  assembled.  There  the  chancellor,  in 
bchaff  of  the  duke  and  council,  respectfully  saluted  the 
clergy,  and  then  announced  that  what  king  John  had  prom 
ised  and  what  the  clergy  had  requested  was  now  to  be 
accomplished,  and  a  free  church  council  be  h olden.  Unity 
in  faith  and  church  usages,  was  necessary  for  even  the 
temporal  quiet  and  welfare  of  fatherland,  as  was  too  mani 
fest  from  the  ravaging  wars  that  were  raging  in  France 
and  the  Netherlands.  Every  member  should  be  allowed 
freely  and  openly  to  utter  his  opinions,  and  give  his  reasons 
for  them.  In  his  own,  and  the  name  of  the  council  of  the 
kingdom,  he  declared  that  they  desired  to  be  rooted  and 
grounded  on  the  Augsburgh  Confession  of  the  year  1530, 
26 


602  HISTORY    OF    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

and  on  the  church  ordinance  of  archbishop  Laurentius 
Petri  the  elder.  He  asked  the  clergy  if  they  could  promise 
and  give  assurance  that  they  who  were  absent  would  ap 
prove  arid  adhere  to  the  decrees  passed  by  those  now 
present.  This  was  unanimously  affirmed.  The  king,  con 
tinued  the  chancellor,  shall  not  be,  on  his  return,  lord  over 
our  faith  and  our  consciences.  A  confession  of  faith  ought, 
therefore,  to  be  drawn  up  and  subscribed  by  all  and  every 
one,  to  be  laid  before  the  king,  for  his  recognition  and 
assent.  That  the  election  of  an  archbishop  should  precede 
any  other  acts  of  the  council  was  not  necessary,  since  an 
individual  might  be  chosen,  who  instead  of  an  archbishop 
could  preserve  order  and  act  as  prolocutor,  and  the  priests 
of  "Wexio  and  Skara  were  here  present  without  their 
bishops.  He  concluded  by  invoking  God's  blessing  on  the 
council. 

The  chancellor's  speech  was  answered,  in  behalf  of  the 
clergy,  by  the  bishop  of  Linkoping.  The  poor  man,  who, 
the  day  before,  had  been  reprimanded  by  the  duke,  now 
brought  down  upon  himself  a  storm  of  indignation  from  his 
fellow-members,  by  requesting  directions  from  the  duke  and 
council  of  the  kingdom,  how  the  proceedings  of  the  church 
council  should  be  conducted.  Schepper  and  the  professors 
accused  him  of  being  always  a  court  flatterer.  This  wag  a 
free  church  council,  and  directions  were  improper  and  un 
necessary. 

The  question  respecting  a  prolocutor,  was  still  undetermin 
ed.  The  majority,  and  especially  the  priests  of  the  see  of 
Upsala,  pressed  the  immediate  election  of  an  archbishop. 
The  others,  among  whom  were  the  bishops,  wished  the 
election  deferred.  A  church  must  be  built,  was  one  of  the 
arguments,  before  a  priest  was  required.  In  this  agreed 
those  who  loved  not  the  freedom  of  the  church,  and  did  not 
do  homage  to  its  episcopal  constitution.  The  result  was  a 
reference  to  the  duke,  and  a  request  for  his  opinion.  Two 


REFORMATION   IN    SWEDEN.  603 

councillors,  therefore,  went  up  to  the  castle,  to  lay  the  case 
before  him.  The  duke,  who  often  expressed  himself  in  a 
manner  that  showed  he  was  disposed  to  find  the  right  in 
what  was  opposed  to  the  usages  of  the  Roman  church,  an 
swered,  that  one  ought  not  to  ape  the  pope  in  thinking  it 
necessary  to  have  an  archbishop  or  bishop,  as  prolocutor  of 
the  council.  They  ought  to  elect  from  among  themselves  a 
suitable  man,  who,  however,  when  the  council  was  closed, 
should  have  no  authority. 

The  election  of  a  prolocutor  was  appointed  for  the  fol 
lowing  day,  which  was  the  2nd  of  March.  The  session 
was  opened,  as  were  all  that  followed,  with  prayers  and 
singing  of  the  Veni  Creator  Spiritus.  Professor  Ericus 
Jacobi,  and  the  schoolmaster  of  Nykoping,  Olaus  Martini, 
were  chosen  for  secretaries.  The  votes  were  then  taken* 
of  which  196  fell  to  professor  Nicolaus  Olai  Bothniensis; 
56  to  bishop  Petrus  Jonas,  of  Strangness,  and  5  to  the 
bishop  of  Linkoping.  The  election  was  confirmed  by  the 
duke,  in  favor  of  master  Nils,  who,  notwithstanding  his  en 
deavors  to  decline  the  trust,  was  at  last  persuaded  to  take  it 
upon  him.  The  result  of  the  election  satisfied  both  those 
who  wished  to  regard  the  prolocutor  as  merely  acting  in 
place  of  the  archbishop,  and  those  who  dreaded  the  strong 
influence  of  Calvinism,  with  which  the  duke  and  priests  of 
Strangness  were  supposed  to  be  infected.  As  the  person 
elected  had  suffered  persecution  for  his  inflexible  opposition 
to  the  liturgy,  the  views  of  the  council  seemed  thus  before 
hand  ascertained.  On  the  proposition  of  master  Ericus 
Jacobi,  it  was  resolved  to  choose  twelve  assessors,  who,  to 
gether  with  the  bishops,  should  act  as  counsellors  and  assis 
tants  to  the  prolocutor.  The  election  of  them,  however, 
was  put  off  to  the  following  day. 

On  that  day,  the  seventh  from  the  day  on  which  the 
council  had  been  called  together,  being  the  3rd  of  March, 
the  proceedings  were  opened  at  8  o'clock  in  the  morning,  in 


604  HISTORY    OP   THE   ECCLESIASTICAL 

presence  of  the  council  of  the  kingdom,  and  a  large  number 
of  nobles.  The  twelve  assessors  were  first  chosen ;  being 
men  selected  from  all  the  dioceses.  The  first  chosen  was 
the  old  master  Olof  Meclelpadius,  formerly  pastor  of  Stock 
holm,  and  a  leader  of  the  opposition  to  the  liturgy.  From 
the  see  of  Upsala  were  chosen  professor  Kenicius,  and  pas 
tor  Olof  o.f  Gefle,  and  Schepper,  the  newly  made  pastor  of 
the  great  church  of  Stockholm ;  from  Linkoping,  pastor 
Clemens  of  Wadsten  ;  from  Skara,  pastor  Gunnar,  of  Nylo- 
dose  ;  from  Striingness,  pastor  Reinold,  of  Striingness.  and  the 
reader  of  theology  there,  Paul  Melartopaaus  ;  from  Westeras, 
pastor  Petrus  Jonas,  of  Arboga  ;  from  Wexio,  provost  Petrus 
Svenonis ;  from  Abo,  Gregory,  the  rector  of  the  school  at 
Abo  ;  from  Mariestad,  in  the  diocese  of  Skara,  superinten 
dent  Matthias  Marci,  who  had  been  removed  from  that 
office. 

After  the  prolocutor  had  delivered  a  short  speech,  thank 
ing  the  council  of  the  kingdom  for  permitting  the  church 
council  to  be  held,  and  recommending  to  the  members 
unity  and  prayer  for  the  divine  blessing,  the  first  and  most 
important  point  was,  to  settle  the  church's  faith  and  con 
fession  of  doctrine.  Olaus  Martini  read  seven  theses,  pre 
sented  by  the  prolocutor  on  the  Holy  Scripture,  enforcing 
its  divine  origin,  its  sufficiency  for  human  faith  and  prac 
tice,  its  perspicuity  and  power  to  explain  itself,  its  exclusive 
honor  as  the  only  rule  for  faith  and  works.  Apart  from 
this  Holy  Scripture,  the  writings  of  the  fathers  and  the  old 
doctors,  could  only  be  of  value  where  the  doctrine  of  the 
apostles  and  prophets  was  believed  and  acknowledged.  The 
Apostles',  Nicene,  and  Athanasian  creeds,  were  acknowledged 
and  confessed  as  expressions  of  the  doctrine  of  Holy  Scrip 
ture. 

These  theses  and  opinions  were  further  explained  and  en 
larged  upon  by  the  prolocutor,  and  by  bishop  Petrus  Jonae. 
They  were  considered  as  the  basis  of  the  deliberations  of  the 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  605 

council ;  as  they  expressed  contrary  views  to  those  put  forth 
in  the  ordinantia  of  1575,  and  the  liturgy.  They  corres 
ponded  with  the  German  form  of  concord,  in  1577,  which, 
at  the  council  of  Upsala,  was  not  mentioned.  But  as  these 
conclusions  were  wanting  in  the  Augsburgh  Confession,  they 
were  offered  as  an  introduction  to  it.  Master  Nils,  after 
going  through  these  theses,  declared,  that  beside  the  three 
creeds,  the  Augsburgh  Confession  was  an  expression  of  the 
truth  contained  in  the  Holy  Scripture ;  and  the  reading  of 
its  articles  was  immediately  commenced. 

They  were  proposed,  in  succession,  by  Olaus  Martini, 
both  in  Latin  and  Swedish.  After  the  reading  of  each 
article,  it  was  explained  by  the  prolocutor  or  some  other ; 
and  the  prolocutor  recommended  every  member  who  was 
not  satisfied  with  the  explanation  given,  or  harbored  a 
doubt  of  the  article  itself,  to  present  openly  his  thoughts 
and  opinions,  that  he  might  not  complain  either  of  mis 
conceiving  the  truth,  or  that  the  council  was  not  con 
ducted  with  full  freedom.  By  noon  the  first  four  articles 
were  gone  through ;  and  in  the  afternoon,  between  3  and 
G  o'clock,  the  five  following.  Pastor  Joakim,  of  Upsala, 
who  wished  to  defend  an  expression  applying  the  word 
oblation  to  man's  faith  and  prayer,  was  attacked  by  the 
prolocutor  and  the  bishops,  and  obliged  to  recall  it. 

On  Sunday,  the  4th  of  March,  there  was  no  meeting. 
But  when  it  is  observed  that  pastor  Joakim  performed  mass 
according  to  the  old  manual,  we  may  thence  conclude,  that 
the  previous  Sunday  the  liturgy  of  John  was  still  used  at 
divine  service  in  the  cathedral.  Bishop  Petrus  Jonae 
preached  at  high  mass  or  morning  service,  and  in  the  after 
noon  the  chaplain,  Engelbert  of  Stockholm,  who  had  suffered 
for  the  liturgy. 

On  Monday  morning,  March  5th,  between  7  and  10 
o'clock,  the  reading  of  the  Augsburgh  Confession  was  con 
tinued,  with  explanations  and  remarks  upon  the  papistic 


606  HISTORY    OF    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

and  calvinistic  errors  which  lay  on  each  side  of  the  truth. 
In  proof  of  the  article  of  the  Lord's  Supper,  bishop  Petrus 
Jonas  of  Striingness,  stood  up,  delivered  a  long  address  on 
the  error  of  the  sacramentarians,  and  complained  of  the 
suspicion  which  had  been  fastened  upon  him,  but  which  he 
repelled,  of  being  a  secret  favorer  of  Calvinism.  On  the 
article  respecting  the  office  of  a  preacher,  the  bishops  were 
reminded  by  the  council  of  the  kingdom,  not  to  ordain 
more  priests  than  need  required.  The  prolocutor  hereupon 
was  somewhat  warm,  and  used  a  proverbial  expression, 
that  if  one  struck  on  a  bush  immediately  ten  priests  came 
forward.  Mention  was  made  of  a  prescription  of  the  canon 
law,  that  whoever  ordains  more  priests  than  necessary  must 
himself  support  them.  On  the  following  article,  concerning 
ceremonies,  there  was  complaint  laid  before  the  council ; 
of  a  treatise  in  defence  of  the  liturgy,  composed  by  Petrus 
Paulinus,  formerly  pastor  of  Stockholm,  as  a  work  peculiarly 
obnoxious  to  censure.  Twelve  clergymen  were  selected 
to  examine  the  production.  The  nineteenth  article  being 
reached  in  the  forenoon,  they  assembled  again  in  the  after 
noon  at  2  o'clock,  and  concluded  the  examination  of  the 
Augsburgh  confession.  Then  E.  Schepper,  addressing  the 
body,  complained,  of  the  conduct  of  the  Jesuits  and  papists  in 
Stockholm.  A  burgher  of  the  city,  Tideman  Cornelii,  had 
allowed  them  a  room  in  his  house,  where  they  held  public 
worship.  The  same  thing  was  done  in  Drottningholm.  The 
clergy  generally  objected  to  the  cloister  at  "Wadsten,  its 
suppression  was  demanded,  and  the  transfer  of  its  incomes 
to  the  support  of  poor  students.  It  was  further  urged, 
that  no  papist,  Calvinist,  or  anabaptist,  should  be  per 
mitted  to  serve  in  the  work  of  education  in  the  national 
schools,  or  in  the  chancery  ;  and  that  the  Swedes  who  studied 
in  Jesuit  seminaries  should  be  forbidden  to  return  to  their 
native  land.  The  council  of  the  kingdom  promised,  in 
concert  with  the  duke,  to  take  the  necessary  measures  and 
steps  in  all  these  respects. 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  607 

After  the  reading  of  the  Augsburgh  confession,  and  the 
examination  of  it,  were  completed,  bishop  Petrus  Jonoe  rose 
up  and  asked  the  council  of  the  kingdom  and  the  rest  of 
the  assembly,  if  they  received  the  confession  which  had  been 
now  critically  examined  and  approved,  and  would  hold  fast 
to  it,  even  if  it  should  be  God's  will  that  they  should  on 
that  account  somewhat  suffer.  All  arose  and  declared 
unanimously  that  they  would  not  deviate  therefrom,  but 
be  ready  for  it  to  stake  their  life  and  blood.  Then  the 
prolocutor  exclaimed  with  a  loud  voice,  "  Now  is  Sweden 
become  one  man,  and  we  all  have  one  Lord  and  God .'" 

This  hour,  June  24,  1527,  was,  of  all  others,  the  most 
important  and  conclusive  for  the  Swedish  church  Reforma 
tion,  and  thereby  for  the  future  of  fatherland.  On  the 
principles  of  the  decree  now  passed,  rest  the  religious  cul 
ture  and  character  of  our  people,  though  more  than  two 
hundred  years  have  rolled  away.  Not  merely  the  fu 
ture  of  Sweden,  but  of  Europe,  was  determined  by  this 
decree,  in  the  strength  of  which  Sweden  soon  after  came 
forward  to  war  and  conquer  in  the  cause  of  religious 
freedom. 

On  the  following  day,  March  C,  Schepper  preached  in 
the  morning  at  the  cathedral,  after  which  the  men  who  had 
been  selected  for  the  purpose,  met  together  at  noon,  to  ex 
amine  Petrus  Paulini's  treatise  in  defence  of  the  liturgy. 

The  council  assembled  at  1  o'clock  in  the  afternoon. 
The  liturgy  was  now  brought  forward,  and  whoever  would, 
was  invited  to  come  forth  in  its  defence.  But  it  found 
not  a  warrior  in  its  cause,  not  a  voice  was  raised  in  behalf 
of  that  order  of  the  mass  which  for  seventeen  years  had 
occasioned  such  convulsions  in  the  Swedish  church.  When 
it  thus  was  doomed,  the  prolocutor  turned  to  the  bishops 
with  the  reproachful  inquiry,  how  they  had  brought  them 
selves  to  accept  it.  There  now  took  place  a  renunciation 
of  the  liturgy  by  acclamation.  The  three  bishops  present, 


606  HISTORY    OF    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

who  had  been  friends  of  the  liturgy,  stepped  forward. 
Bishop  Petrus  of  Linkoping  declared,  he  had  accepted  the 
liturgy  partly  from  ignorance,  partly  from  constraint,  or  led 
on  by  those  who  then  managed  the  church.  He  acknow 
ledged  himself  to  have  done  wrong,  and  prayed  God's  and  the 
church's  forgiveness.  Bishop  Bellinus  of  Westeras  said, 
that  he  had  been  imposed  upon  by  the  explanations  given 
of  the  liturgy,  and  offered  as  an  apology  that,  before  king 
John's  death,  he  had  already  recalled  the  approval  he  had 
given.  Bishop  Erik  of  Abo  professed  that  he  had  only 
acquiesced  in  the  liturgy  because  he  regarded  it  as  compati 
ble  with  pure  doctrine.  After  this  the  priests  of  the  city, 
the  teachers,  king  John's  court  preacher,  and  lastly,  the 
clergy  of  the  dioceses,  came  forward,  and,  without  an  ex 
ception,  recalled  their  consent  to  the  liturgy.  It  became 
the  cause  of  many  abusive  terms  and  nicknames.  Strict 
inquiry  was  made  of  the  course  pursued  by  those  who  had 
more  actively  labored  for  the  liturgy,  or  who  had  declared 
themselves  in  its  favor.  Many  priests,  who,  without  any 
other  merit  than  accepting  the  liturgy  had  been  promoted 
to  good  benefices,  were  displaced.  Pastor  Joakim  of  Up- 
sala,  was  again  attacked.  He  said  that  if  all  the  rest 
abandoned  the  liturgy  he  was  willing  to  do  so.  Master 
Nils  was  not  satisfied  with  this,  but  wished  a  plain  answer 
to  the  question,  whether  in  accepting  the  liturgy  he  was 
conscious  of  having  done  good  or  evil.  Joakim  made  no 
reply,  and  the  matter  dropped.  Schepper  thanked  master 
Erik  Jacobi,  who  had  recovered  him  from  error.  Many 
of  the  priests  of  the  archdiocese  acknowledged  individually 
their  fault  in  having  shown  a  zeal  for  the  liturgy.  This 
was  done  in  the  name  of  the  bishop  of  Skara  and  the 
diocese,  by  the  bishop's  son,  Olaus  Columbus,  who  was 
clean  of  the  chapter  and  pastor  of  Larf. 

An  inquiry  was  now  set  on  foot  respecting  the  writings, 
which,  by  king  John's  direction,  were  issued  in  1588,  in 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  609 

the  name  of  the  diocese  of  Linkoping,  "Westerns,  and  Wexio, 
against  the  clergy  of  Charles's  duchy.  Pastor  Olof  of 
Linkoping,  exculpated  himself  and  the  brethren  of  his 
diocese,  on  the  plea,  that  the  king's  secretaries,  Olof  Sver- 
kersson  and  Henrik  Mattsson,  laid  before  them  at  Stegeborg 
a  paper  without  any  writing,  on  which  they  were  compelled 
to  underwrite  their  names.  The  bishop  of  Westeras  de 
clared,  that  to  this  lampoon  he  had  never  given  his  assent. 
In  behalf  of  the  diocese  of  Wexio,  the  provost  of  Wexio 
professed  their  sorrow  at  having  been  the  occasion  of 
scandal  in  the  church,  and  offered  the  apology,  that  before 
king  John's  death  they  had  withdrawn  their  support  from 
the  obnoxious  liturgy. 

Hereupon,  the  chancellor  rose  and  thanked  bishop  Petrus 
Jonaej"  and  the  priests  of  Strangness  for  the  firmness  with 
which  they  had  striven  and  suffered  for  the  truth.  The 
councillor,  Gustaf  Bauer,  admonished  the  priests  to  be 
warned  how  they  signed  obligations  without  reflection. 
They  might  be  sure  that  it  would  bring  ruin  on  their  heads 
to  be  again  tempted  to  defection.  When  Hogenskild  Bjelke 
spoke  in  the  same  strain,  he  was  spared,  by  his  rank  in  the 
commonwealth,  from  hearing  what  was  whispered  among 
the  clergy,  that  he  ought  to  ask  himself  what  he  was  think 
ing  of,  and  what  were  his  opinions,  when,  some  years 
before,  he  forced  the  liturgy  upon  the  priests  of  East  Goth 
land. 

Mutual  reconciliations  took  place  among  the  clergy,  and 
promises  to  bury  the  past  in  oblivion.  The  question  being 
then  put  by  the  prolocutor,  whether  they  would  abandon 
the  liturgy,  and  the  answer  being  unanimously  in  the 
affirmative,  the  session  was  closed  by  reading  the  confession 
of  the  diocese  of  Strangness  on  the  liturgy. 

When  they  were  assembled  in  the  morning  of  March  7th, 
from  6  to  1  o'clock,  the  prolocutor  summed  up  the  reasons 
on  which  the  liturgy  must  be  regarded  as  worthy  of  con- 
26* 


610  HISTORY    OF  THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

damnation,  and  there  were  read  the  opinions  on  it  of  cer 
tain  German  universities. 

Petrus  Paulinus  was  then  cited  to  answer  for  his  treatise, 
to  which  allusion  has  before  been  made,  and  other  charges 
were  brought  against  him.  He  had,  in  that  treatise,  made 
use  of  contemptuous  expressions  toward  the  opposers  of  the 
liturgy,  had  defended  the  doctrine  of  the  change  in  the 
eucharistic  bread  in  a  manner  jejeune  and  tending  to 
superstition,  and  in  relation  to  ceremonies,  had  said,  that 
man  was  to  be  instructed  in  religion  by  two  processes,  in 
his  youth  by  ceremonies,  at  a  later  period  of  life  by  the 
word  of  God.  He  endeavored  to  defend  himself,  but  was 
overwhelmed  with  replies.  He  excused  himself  by  saying, 
that  this  treatise  was  composed  by  king  John's  direction ; 
but  one  of  the  councillors  testified,  that  the  king  had  ex 
pressed  dissatisfaction  with  Petrus  and  his  book.  There 
were  now  other  accusations  brought  against  him  ;  but  the 
case  was  deferred  to  the  following  day. 

In  the  afternoon,  at  three  o'clock,  another  session  was 
held,  in  which  there  were  brought  under  review  the  church 
customs  and  usages,  that  as  a  consequence  of  rejecting  the 
liturgy,  ought  to  be  removed.  Such  were  the  saints'  days 
introduced  by  the  ordinantia  of  1575,  the  white  roklin  of 
the  priest,  the  episcopal  robes  and  crosier,  prayers  for  the 
dead,  ringing  at  the  elevation  of  the  sacrament,  chiming 
bells  in  the  morning  and  afternoon  in  praise  of  the  virgin 
Mary,  the  so  called  ciboria  or  tabernacle  for  the  consecrated 
elements  in  churches,  the  washing  of  the  hands  of  the  priests 
at  the  altar,  the  removal  of  the  mass  book  from  one  corner 
of  the  altar  to  the  other,  the  having  more  altars  than  one 
in  the  same  church,  the  shrines  of  St.  Erik  and  other  saints 
Resolutions  were  not  passed  in  respect  to  these  several 
points,  with  the  exception  of  abolishing  the  newly  introdu 
ced  saints'  days. 

On  the  8th  of  March,  after  a  sermon  by  the   German 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  Oil 

preacher  at  Stockholm,  the  general  subject  of  church  ordi 
nances  and  church  usages,  was  introduced  by  the  prolocu 
tor.  He  reproached  the  bishops  with  having  surrendered 
a  great  part  of  their  jurisdiction  to  the  chancery  of  the  king, 
and  reproached  the  officers  of  that  court,  with  having  in 
truded  on  the  episcopal  office.  The  whole  question  embra 
ced  the  principles  that,  in  1586,  were  promulgated  in  the 
church  of  Charles's  duchy,  by  the  articles  of  Orebro.  On 
the  question  of  what  mass  or  service  book  should  be  adopt 
ed  in  place  of  the  liturgy,  it  was  generally  desired  to  return 
to  that  which  was  in  use  before  the  introduction  of  the  lit 
urgy.  Thus  was  the  old  manual  confirmed. 

The  case  of  Petrus  Paulinus  was  afterward  again  brought 
up.  There  now  came  forward,  as  his  accusers,  Schepper, 
Engelbrecht,  chaplain  at  Stockholm,  and  the  representative 
whom  the  burghers  of  Stockholm  had  elected  and  sent  to 
Upsala  for  this  very  purpose.  He  had  forbidden  the  use  of 
the  Latin  catechism  of  Chytrams  in  the  school  of  Stockholm  ; 
he  had,  to  an  indiscreet  excess,  carried  the  doctrine  of  faith 
and  good  works,  as  presented  in  John's  ordinantia  and  lit 
urgy  ;  had,  in  a  funeral  sermon  at  the  burial  of  the  burgo 
master,  N.  Brask,  who  died  in  the  popish  faith,  praised  him 
as  blessed  ;  in  a  word,  both  in  his  preaching  and  his  life, 
had  manifested  pride,  ambition,  and  covetousness.  A  gen 
eral  dislike  seems  to  have  been  accumulated  on  his  head ; 
and  the  council  doomed  him,  as  unworthy  of  his  office,  to 
have  his  official  robes  publicly  taken  off  him  by  the  bishop 
of  Linkoping.* 

On  the  next  day's  session,  being  the  9th  of  March,  from 
eight  to  one  o'clock,  the  subject  of  the  mass  book  and  man- 

*  Only  one  young  man,  an  eye  witness  of  his  deposition,  at  the  council 
of  Upsala.  shed  tears  over  his  ruin.  This  was  his  younger  brother,  Lauren- 
tins,  newly  come  home  master  from  his  studies  in  Germany,  who  in  after 
years,  became  archbishop  of  Upsala. 


612  HISTOKY    OF   THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

ual  was  taken  up,  in  order  to  decide  what  ceremonies  ought 
to  be  laid  aside  or  retained.  On  motion  of  the  prolocutor, 
the  principle  was  recognized,  that  ceremonies  were  in  the 
class  of  indifferent  things,  and  could  with  Christian  freedom 
be  retained,  but  ought  to  be  abolished  when  they  were  mis 
understood  or  abused.  This  was  the  old  principle  of  the 
Swedish  reformation.  Hereupon  arose  a  question,  respect 
ing  the  use  of  exorcism  in  baptism,  which  had  been,  at  an 
early  period,  debated  in  Sweden,  and  which  Laurentius 
Petri,  the  elder,  defended  against  the  Calvinists  of  his  time. 
It  was  now  determined  to  retain  the  practice,  as  a  declara 
tion  to  the  people  of  the  child's  condition  before  baptism. 
But  as  the  usual  words  in  this  ceremony,  "  begone  thou 
foul  spirit,"  were  thought  to  be  hard  and  susceptible  of  an 
ill  sense,  the  milder  expression,  "may  he  depart  hence," 
was  substituted.  More  easily  than  in  the  case  of  exorcism, 
which,  as  before  remarked,  had  been  abolished  in  the  court 
of  Charles,  was  there  an  agreement  respecting  the  uselessness 
and  superstition  of  certain  other  customs, — such  were  the 
lighting  of  candles  on  the  altar  when  the  gospel  was  read, 
and  which  were  held  behind  the  priest  at  the  elevation  of 
the  sacrament ;  the  carrying  of  a  light  in  the  hand  at  the 
churching  of  women,  and  the  giving  an  offering  to  the 
church  at  the  time ;  the  bearing  of  a  cross  and  standard  be 
fore  the  dead  body  at  burials ;  the  consecration  of  the 
dead  body  and  of  graves  ;  the  use  of  frankincense  ;  the 
practice  of  having  lights  at  weddings ;  the  marching 
with  a  train  of  the  bridegroom  around  the  church  or 
churchyard.  On  this  day,  however,  as  on  the  8th  of 
March,  the  topics  were  canvassed,  but  no  decree  was 


The  afternoon  session  began  at  three  o'clock,  with  an 
examination  of  some  priests,  complained  of  for  too  great 
zeal  for  liturgism,  but  whose  case  was  not  till  now  settled. 
These  were,  Petrus,  pastor  of  Skeptuna,  in  the  archdiocese  ; 


REFORMATION   IN    SWEDEN.  613 

Hakan,  of  Stockholm,  Thomas,  of  Abo,  and  Amured,  of 
Stockholm.  They  were  now  received  into  fellowship. 

As  on  the  previous  days,  the  council  had  drawn  up  its  de 
crees,  regarding  matters  of  faith,  divine  worship,  and  church 
usages,  the  question  of  church  ordinances  and  church  disci 
pline  was  discussed  at  this  session.  The  church  ordinance 
of  1571,  was  accepted  and  adopted,  having  been  read  and 
criticised  in  those  portions,  which,  in  the  deliberations  on 
ceremonies  had  not  already  been  examined.  Here,  too,  the 
views  of  the  council  were  manifested,  although  they  were 
not  put  in  the  form  of  decrees.  To  the  conduct  of  priests 
especial  reference  was  made.  They  ought  to  be  examined 
before  being  ordained,  and  undergo  a  new  examination 
when  they  were  promoted  to  benefices.  An  elderly  priest, 
who  relinquished  his  benefice  to  his  son,  or  son-in-law, 
should  be  allowed  to  take  it  again,  if  he  experienced  from 
him  either  ingratitude  or  disrespect. 

The  same  subjects  were  canvassed  on  the  following  day, 
being  the  10th  of  March.  Mention  was  made  of  a  church 
ordinance,  that  preaching  and  prayers  should  not  last  more 
than  one  hour.  Complaint  was  made  of  the  claim  of  the 
nobles  to  the  right  of  patronage.  The  bishops  and  chapter 
ought,  in  conjunction,  to  have  the  right  of  conferring  bene 
fices.  None  should  be  transferred  from  one  benefice  to 
another,  without  passing  through  a  fresh  examination. 
Priests  were  admonished  to  take  heed  to  themselves,  and 
not  to  become  "  gadabouts."  They  should  always  bear  in 
mind  that  they  stood  in  the  stead  and  place  of  God. 

On  this  day,  .the  council  had  concluded  its  deliberations 
and  decrees,  on  all  the  topics  whereof  they  considered  them 
selves  to  have  freedom  of  decision.  But,  while  it  was  in 
session,  much  had  occurred,  and  much  was  still  to  be  desir 
ed,  for  the  church's  weal,  that  could  not  be  perfected  with 
out  recourse  to  the  civil  authority.  Sixty-three  points  were 
therefore  presented  to  the  duke  and  council  of  the  kingdom, 
containing  the  demands  of  this  council  of  the  church. 


614  HISTORY    OF    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

The  first  part  contains  the  demands  of  the  council  in  re 
gard  to  the  exercise  of  religion.  The  duke  and  council  are 
requested  to  acknowledge,  confirm,  and  subscribe  the  de 
crees  of  the  ecclesiastical  body,  and  to  take  care  that  they 
were  approved  and  confirmed  by  the  other  estates.  King 
Sigismund,  before  entering  on  his  reign  and  being  crowned, 
should  confirm  them.  No  alteration  should  take  place 
through  the  constraining  or  persuasive  influence  of  individu 
als,  but  through  the  joint  action  of  the  clergy  and  laity; 
and  this  action  should  not  be  accounted  as  an  offence  against 
the  prince.  The  king  should  not  have  more  than  three 
popish  priests,  natives  of  Sweden  ;  and  these,  as  well  as 
those  from  abroad,  should  be  allowed  to  preach  only  in  the 
king's  court,  and  were  to  be  carried  with  him  when  he  left 
the  land.  The  exercise  of  the  popish  or  any  foreign  relig- 
on,  should  not  be  allowed,  save  in  the  king's  chapel.  No 
native,  or  foreigner,  of  another  faith  than  that  now  adopted, 
should  obtain  office  or  service  in  the  kingdom,  should  enter 
into  marriage  with  a  Swedish  maid  or  widow,  stand  god 
father,  or  receive  public  burial ;  and  if  there  was  no  change 
of  opinion  within  a  night  and  a  year,  should  be  banished 
the  land.  Frequenting  of  Jesuit  or  calvinistic  schools  should 
be  prohibited.  Clergymen  who  sought  those  schools,  should 
be  deposed  ;  fathers  who  sent  their  children  there  be  fined. 

The  second  part  contains  the  demands  of  the  council  for 
the  church's  freedom,  in  relation  to  the  temporal  power. 
Bishops  should  not  be  intruded,  but  be  legally  elected,  and 
within  three  months  after  the  coronation,  be  confirmed  by 
the  king.  They  should  be  allowed  to  exefcise  their  office 
according  to  the  laws  of  Sweden,  the  ordinantia  of  Weste- 
ras,  and  the  printed  church  ordinances  ;  by  advice  and  con 
sent  of  their  chapters  should  place  and  displace  priests  and 
teachers,  according  to  their  merit  or  demerit ;  should  exer 
cise  in  the  church  the  power  of  binding  and  loosing ;  have 
judgment  in  all  marriage  cases ;  hold  visitations  and  con-' 


REFORMATION   IN    SWEDEN.  615 

vocations ;  and  decide  on  disputed  cases  between  those  who 
were  entering  upon  and  those  leaving  a  benefice.  The 
bishops  and  their  chapters  should  be  at  liberty  to  call  to 
gether  diocesan  councils  ;  and  the  archbishop,  with  the  con 
sent  of  the  other  bishops,  to  hold  a  general  and  free  church 
council,  if  need  were.  The  bishop  or  his  official  may  see 
that  the  parsonage  is  kept  in  repair,  and  the  priest  must  not 
be  made  to  build  beyond  the  legal  requirement,  but  the 
parish  must  keep  up  the  repairs.  Except  in  the  more 
weighty  cases,  such  as  high  treason  and  capital  offences,  ac 
cusations  against  a  priest  may  be  brought  before  the  prov 
ost  of  the  district,  from  whom  there  shall  be  an  appeal  to 
the  bishop  and  chapter,  and  from  these  to  a  council  of  bish 
ops  ;  and  in  like  manner,  if  any  one  had  a  complaint  against 
the  bishop  and  chapter,  in  a  matter  that  involved  punishment. 
The  bishops  were  critically  to  inquire  into  false  doctrine, 
admonish,  put  under  ban,  and  if  there  were  no  amendment, 
inflict  banishment.  When  the  bishops  were  summoned  to 
court,  one  was  not  to  be  summoned  to  answer  for  the  rest, 
but  all  were  to  be  present  at  once.  The  lagmen,  justices 
of  the  district,  and  steAvards,  were  to  encourage  the  people 
in  reverence  for  the  clergy,  and  in  freely  giving  the  salary 
to  which  they  are  entitled,  on  the  principles  and  by  the 
command  of  Holy  Scripture. 

The  third  part  treats  of  the  sanctity  of  divine  service ; 
and  prescribes  punishment  to  those  who  make  a  noise  in 
or  do  not  to  go  to  church.  The  assize  should  not  be  holden 
in  Advent,  contrary  to  Swedish  law,  nor  in  Lent,  Passion 
Week,  nor  on  Saturday.  The  sergeants  of  the  district  and 
stewards,  at  their  meetings  in  the  church  tower,  "  must  not 
fall  to  wrangling."  Proctors  of  cathedrals  must  always  be 
priests. 

The  council  now  proceeded  to  pass  resolutions  respecting 
the  incomes  of  the  church  and  clergy.  The  wine  and  corn 
levied  for  building  churches,  should  be  maintained  without 


616  HISTORY    OF   THE   ECCLESIASTICAL 

diminution,  and  the  tax  laid  where  it  did  not  already  ex 
ist.  Settled  and  established  rates  of  salaries  should  be 
drawn  up  for  bishops,  chapters,  priests  in  towns,  and  teach 
ers,  so  that  they  might  not,  from  their  straitened  resour 
ces,  be  necessitated  to  tread  court  stairs,  and  become  the 
poor,  mean,  door-watchers  of  the  great.  Amelioration  was 
desired  of  the  heavy  tax  of  entertaining  guests  from  the  way 
side,  and  writing  certificates  for  them  ;  since  the  priests  ex 
cused  the  neglect  of  the  proper  duties  of  their  office,  by  the 
hindrances  and  cares  required  by  such  calls  upon  their 
time.  Release,  especially  was  asked,  from  borough  law 
meetings ;  instead  of  which,  it  would  be  preferable  to  pay  a 
yearly  tax.  It  was  also  requested  that  the  compensation 
which  king  Gustavus  gave  to  the  support  of  the  domestic 
establishment  of  each  priest,  might  be  affirmed,  and  they 
who  had  none,  as  yet,  might  obtain  it  out  of  the  tithes  of 
river  and  other  fish ;  so  that  poor  priests,  and  the  widows 
of  priests,  might  have  the  old  support. 

In  respect  to  the  work  of  education,  the  council  urged, 
that  the  regulations  which  it  was  now  in  contemplation  to 
establish,  might  be  applied  to  the  college  and  schools.  In 
every  cathedral  there  should  be  a  reader  of  theology,  to 
have  the  oversight  of  schools.  From  every  diocese  some 
students  should  be  supported  at  such  foreign  academies  as 
acknowledged  the  Augsburgh  Confession.  Teachers  should 
be  allowed  a  yearly  income.  The  professors  of  the  college 
should  be  twelve  in  number,  "  double  that  number  being 
found  in  the  smallest  foreign  academies,  and  there  could  not 
be  fewer,  if  things  were  to  be  conducted  as  they  ought  to 
be."  A  fellowship  for  students  should  be  instituted ;  the 
libraries  at  Stockholm  and  Upsala  inventoried  and  kept  in 
order  ;  and  no  man  be  allowed  to  send  his  children  to  study 
abroad,  till  they  had  been  previously  taught  at  Upsala. 

It  was  further  requested,  that  the  printing  press  should 
be  removed  from  Stockholm  to  Upsala,  whose  chapter  and 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  617 

professors  were  to  take  care  that  no  popish  or  calvinistic 
books  were  printed  there.  A  new  edition  of  the  Bible 
ought  to  be  then  printed,  and  the  writings  of  Olaus  and 
Laurentius  Petri  the  elder,  be  collected  and  put  to  press, 
as  also  the  Swedish  Psalm-Book,  with  the  excluded  psalms 
reintroduced  and  all  the  newer  ones  left  out. 

The  clergy  requested  that  110  vows  on  entering  upon 
their  office  should  hereafter  be  taken  by  priests,  other  than 
such  as  were  publicly  known  and  prepared  in  a  form  com 
mon  to  all,  and  that  the  duke  and  council  of  the  kingdom 
would  aid  in  restoring  the  written  pledges  to  the  liturgy, 
that  they  might  be  destroyed. 

Finally,  with  regard  to  the  cloister  of  Wadsten,  whose 
dissolution  was  urged  on  the  5th  of  March,  the  council 
limited  itself  to  requiring,  that  the  nuns  should  be  obliged 
to  listen  to  a  sermon  on  the  Augsburgh  Confession. 

These  demands,  picturing  the  position  of  the  church  and 
the  judgment  of  the  clergy  respecting  that  position,  and 
constituting  a  programme  of  the  Swedish  church's  history 
from  1593  for  the  succeeding  century,  were  not  separately 
deliberated  upon  by  the  council.  There  is  no  mention  of 
a  decree  passed  for  their  being  made  a  rule  of  action,  nor 
of  the  time  of  its  being  done. 

After  the  session  of  the  10th  of  March,  and  a  rest  on  the 
following  day,  which  was  Sunday,  when  bishop  Petrus 
Jonre  preached  in  the  cathedral,  no  meeting  was  held, 
either  on  the  12th  or  13th  of  the  month,  those  days  being 
occupied  in  writing  out  clean  copies  of  the  decrees  that 
had  been  passed.  It  is  highly  probable,  as  a  manuscript 
gives  us  reason  to  believe, ^that  during  the  examination  of 
the  previous  proceedings,  these  "postulata"  or  demands, 
were  arranged  into  divisions,  and  collected  into  a  whole, 
and  were  then,  with  the  addition  of  some  new  points, 
transmitted,  on  March  the  13th,  together  with  the  decrees, 
to  the  duke  and  council  of  the  kingdom.  The  consent 


618  HISTORY    OF    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

of  the  duke  to  the  decrees  of  the  council,  and  his  answer 
and  that  of  the  council  of  the  kingdom  to  the  "  postulata  " 
were  anxiously  expected,  but  in  vain. 

The  council  again  assembled  in  session  on  March  14th, 
after  hearing  a  sermon  ;  and  the  hitherto  deferred  subject 
of  the  election  of  an  archbishop  occupied  the  attention  of 
the  members.  The  council  had  come  together  without  the 
king's  knowledge  and  assent.  They  had,  independently  of 
him,  passed  decrees,  which  they  foresaw  would  prove  un 
acceptable  to  him,  and  had  expressed  the  determination 
of  making  his  acknowledgment  of  these  decrees  a  condition 
of  admitting  him  to  take  possession  of  the  throne.  It  now 
concerned  them,  to  find  a  man  sufficiently  tried  for  courage 
and  firmness,  to  be  put  in  the  chief  seat  of  the  church, 
amid  those  struggles  and  dangers  with  which  the  mainte 
nance  of  the  decrees  of  the  council  threatened  the  occupant 
of  that  seat,  and  the  church  itself.  Master  Abraham 
Andrece,  who  had  not  yet  returned  to  his  fatherland,  was 
looked  upon  as  the  most  worthy  of  that  dangerous  honor  ; 
and  he  was  called  by  an  almost  unanimous  vote  from  his 
banishment  to  the  highest  honor  and  office  in  the  church. 

On  the  following  day,  being  the  15th  of  March,  an 
election  was  ordered  for  the  sees  of  Skara  and  Wexio,  the 
great  age  of  whose  occupants  seemed  to  require  a  release, 
and  for  the  see  of  Wiborg,  which  was  to  be  again  sundered 
from  Abo.  In  these  votes,  only  the  masters  of  arts  and 
the  city  pastors  of  the  respective  dioceses  participated.  To 
Skara,  Henricus  Gadolenus  was  elected  ;  to  Wexio,  Olaus 
Martini ;  to  Wiborg,  Petrus  Melartopqeus.  At  the  inter 
cession  of  their  dioceses,  howaver,  the  two  first-named 
bishops  were  afterward  retained  in  office,  although  their 
former  compliance  with  the  liturgy,  no  less  than  their  age, 
was  regarded  as  a  fault  by  the  council.  The  see  of  Abo 
remained  unmutilated. 

The  council  had,  with  perfect  unanimity,  cast  out  the 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  619 

papacy,  and  provided  defences  against  it  for  the  church. 
They  had  also,  without  difficulty,  vanquished  liturgism, 
and  won  its  general  rejection.  But  from  the  termination 
of  the  proper  proceedings  of  the  council,  on  the  10th 
of  March,  there  began  to  rise  a  storm,  which  threatened  to 
destroy  the  not  yet  perfected  building  of  a  sole  church  in 
fatherland. 

The  decrees  of  the  council  yet  wanted  confirmation  of  the 
civil  government  of  the  land,  which  was  exercised  by  the 
duke  and  council  of  the  kingdom.  That  council  had  been 
present  and  followed  the  course  of  the  ecclesiastical  synod ; 
and  as  we  have  seen,  one  or  more  of  the  members  of  the 
former  had  given  expression  to  his  opinions  before  the  latter. 
The  duke,  upon  the  contrary,  had  abstained  from  all  inter 
ference  with  the  movements  of  the  church  council.  Both 
the  council  of  the  kingdom  and  the  clergy  construed  this  as 
a  proof  of  his  care  for  the  church's  freedom,  and  deliberated 
and  decreed  without  applying  to  him  for  advice.  There 
was  also  an  anxiety  to  guard  against  the  influence  of  Cal 
vinism,  of  which  there  was  something  to  be  feared  from  the 
duke.  His  favorite  bishop,  Petrus  of  Strangness,  had,  as 
we  have  remarked,  thought  himself  obliged  to  exonerate 
himself  before  the  council  from  the  suspicion  of  that  error. 
But,  after  the  transactions  of  the  council,  on  the  10th  of 
March,  were  terminated,  the  duke,  who  in  all  other  things 
was  in  harmony  with  the  council  of  the  kingdom  and  the 
clergy,  began  to  make  known  his  dissatisfaction,  that  di 
verse  church  customs  offensive  to  him  were  retained.  From 
that  day  forward,  there-  was  a  private  altercation  on  the 
subject.  But  the  synod  neither  would  nor  could  retreat. 
And  the  decrees,  notwithstanding  the  duke's  known  dis 
pleasure,  were  recorded,  and  on  the  13th  of  March  forwarded 
to  him.  When  still,  on  the  16th  of  March,  the  answer  of 
the  government  to  the  request  for  confirming  the  decrees 
was  not  received,  ihe  bishops,  and  some  of  the  priests, 


620  HISTORY    OP    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

t 

waited  on  the  duke,  who  was  residing  at  the  castle,  formally 
to  solicit  his  approbation  and  assent.  The  duke  addressed 
them  in  harsh  terms.  They  had,  shutting  him  out,  of  their 
own  pleasure  prepared  the  meat  for  the  dish,  but  they  ought 
to  bear  in  mind  that  the  lid  was  not  closed.  His  wrath  was 
moderated,  when  the  bishops  excused  themselves,  on  the 
plea  that  they  believed  the  council  of  the  kingdom  to  have 
acquainted  him  with  the  progress  of  matters.  But  they 
could  not  induce  him  to  yield  the  points,  in  regard  to  which 
he  required  the  council  to  alter  its  decrees.  These  were 
chiefly  three,  that  exorcism  should  be  removed  from  the 
baptismal  service ;  that  the  use  of  salt  and  candles  should 
be  dispensed  with,  and  that  there  should  be  no  elevation 
of  the  sacrament  in  the  mass  or  service  of  the  Lord's  Sup 
per.  The  duke  refused  to  subscribe  the  decrees  as  long  as 
these  changes  were  not  made.  When  he  could  not  be 
induced  to  yield,  the  council  held  a  new  session  in  the 
afternoon  of  the  16th  of  March,  to  deliberate  on  his  requi 
sitions.  It  was  fully  expected  by  the  duke  that  the  council, 
which  in  concert  with  him  had  assumed  the  right  of  assem 
bling,  and  by  its  decrees  had  well-nigh  put  at  defiance  the 
king  of  the  land,  would  be  tamely  submissive.  The  council 
resolved  to  abide  by  what  had  been  done,  both  to  preserve 
the  church's  freedom  in  indifferent  things,  and  because  it  was 
thought  that  these  church  customs  could  not  be  laid  aside 
without  creating  disturbance  and  scandal.  This  was  the 
very  principle,  which,  about  thirty  years  before,  Laurentius 
Petri  the  elder,  in  quite  the  same  form,  maintained  and 
pressed  against  king  Erik  and  D.  Burrceus. 

The  council  so  far  yielded,  as  to  deem  that  an  alteration 
might  be  made  in  drawing  up  the  decrees,  by  the  use  of  a 
moderated  form  of  expression,  and  the  decrees  were,  there 
fore,  on  the  17th  of  March  engrossed,  and  they  were  in 
those  points  couched  in  the  sense  they  afterward  retained. 

On  Sunday,  March  18th,  there  was  a  meeting  at  the  close 


REFORMATION   IN    SWEDEN.  621 

of  high  mass ;  and  the  recent  modifications  of  the  decrees 
of  the  church  council  in  the  disputed  points  were  read  and 
approved.  They  were  also  approved  by  the  duke.  But  a 
number  of  the  clergy,  at  the  head  of  whom  were  the  bishops 
of  Westerns  and  Abo,  and  the  professors  at  Upsala,  were 
dissatisfied  with  the  alterations  made,  and  by  duke  Charles's 
obstinacy  they  had  been  put  still  more  on  their  guard  against 
the  dreaded  secret  influence  of  Calvinism.  The  decree8 
contained  a  rejection  of  heresies,  among  which  was  also 
specified  the  doctrine  of  the  sacramentaries.  It  was  urged 
that  the  name  Calvinists  should  expressly  be  introduced. 
Hereupon  arose  the  most  vehement  debates  in  the  assembly. 
Many,  perhaps  cautiously,  wished  to  avoid  a  word  which 
in  their  secret  sentiments  betokened  nothing  damnable.  In 
vain  the  prolocutor  reminded  them  that  the  Calvinists  were 
included  in  the  general  term  sacramentaries,  and  that  after 
an  accommodation  with  the  duke  had  been  brought  to  a 
happy  close,  he  ought  not  to  be  again  troubled  and  provoked. 
The  opposition  party  were  not  to  be  moved  from  their  de 
mands,  and  the  prolocutor,  in  an  angry  mood,  left  the  as 
sembly,  without  any  decree  on  that  point  being  passed.  A 
portion  of  the  clergy  immediately  left  the  city,  without  wait 
ing  for  a  decision  on  the  case.  But  after  evening  service 
of  the  same  day,  the  peace-loving  and  mediating  bishop  of 
Linkoping,  with  a  number  of  the  clergy,  met  together,  arid 
the  decree  was  accepted  and  acknowledged  in  the  form  in 
which  it  had  been  last  drawn  up.  It  was  agreed  that  they 
would  assemble  the  following  day,  to  subscribe  it.  At  that 
meeting,  which  was  on  Monday,  March  19th,  a  large  part 
of  the  members  of  the  council  refused  to  subscribe  the  de 
cree  unless  the  Calvinists  were  in  it  expressly  condemned. 
The  moderate  party  were  now  obliged  to  yield,  and  the 
bishops  of  Linkoping  and  Striingness,  with  the  prolocutor 
of  the  council,  went  to  duke  Charles,  to  obtain  his  consent 
to  the  required  addition.  Displeased  with  this  demand,  and 


622  HISTORY    OF    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

with  what  he  suspected  to  be  its  reason,  the  duke  objected 
that  the  decree  ought  to  contain  the  condemnation  of  others 
who  were  equally  heretics  with  Calvin,  but  finally  said,  "  If 
you  put  in  all  whom  you  know  to  be  of  that  sort,  you  must 
include  the  devil  himself,  in  hell;  for  he,  too,  is  my  foe," 
There  was  ROW  added  to  the  decree  a  condemnation  of  the 
Zwinglians  and  Calvinists. 

After  this  was  done,  the  clergy  assembled  the  same  day, 
being  March  19,  1593,  in  the  castle  of  Upsala,  in  presence 
of  the  duke,  the  council  of  the  kingdom,  and  the  rest  of  the 
laity,  and  delivered  up  the  decrees  as  recited.  The  duke, 
council  of  the  kingdom,  and  those  present,  acknowledged, 
received,  and  promised  to  subscribe  them.  The  duke  de 
clared  the  council  at  an  end,  and  dismissed  the  members  to 
their  homes. 

The  decrees  of  the  council  are  a  convincing  proof  that,  as 
in  recent  times,  discord  and  disunion,  in  matters  of  religion, 
within  the  realm  of  Sweden,  had  been  the  cause  of  divisions 
and  scandal,  and  experience  had  shown  that  nothing  is  more 
mischievous  in  a  kingdom  than  discord  and  disunion,  and 
nothing  more  beneficial,  or  more  calculated  to  bind  hearts 
together,  than  concord  and  unity  in  religion  ;  this  unity  was 
to  be  best  won  by  a  Christian  general  free  national  council. 
Such  had  been  common  from  the  apostles'  times ;  and  as 
King  John  had,  some  years  before  his  death,  consented  that 
a  council  should  be  held,  so  had  this  assembly,  by  universal 
consent  and  approbation,  been  brought  together  at  Upsala. 
Here,  in  the  name  of  the  Holy  Trinity,  after  an  earnest 
calling  upon  God,  and  after  a  godly  and  close  investigation, 
had  the  following  points  been  conciliarly  settled. 

1.  All  desire  and  will  to  continue  and  abide  in  the  pure 
and  saving  word  of  God,  contained  in  the  writings  of  the 
holy  prophets,  evangelists  and  apostles.  They  acknowledge 
this  holy  Scripture  to  have  its  origin  from  the  Holy  Ghost ; 
to  contain  fully  all  Christian  doctrine  ;  to  be  the  basis  and 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  623 

stay  of  the  true  Christian  faith,  and  judge  in  all  religious 
controversies,  and  needs  no  additional  light  either  from  the 
holy  fathers  or  any  else. 

2.  The  council  further  recognizes  the   unity  and    agree 
ment  of  the  Swedish  with  the  church  of  the  first  ages,  by 
acceptance  of  the  Apostles',  Nicene,  and  Athanasian  creeds, 
with  the  reformed  evangelical  church,  by  acceptance  of  the 
Augsburgh  confession  of  1530  ;  with  the  previous  reforma 
tion  of  the  Swedish  church,  by  acceptance  of  the  church 
ordinance  of  1572,  as  the  expression  and  exhibit  of  that  re 
ligion  which,  at  the  close  of  king  Gustavus's  reign,  and  the 
life  of  archbishop  Laurentius  Petri  Nericius,  was  here  re 
ceived  and  professed  in  this  kingdom. 

3.  In  respect  to  certain  ceremonies  at  baptism  and  the 
Lord's  supper,  such  as  the  use  of  salt,  candles,  and  the  ele 
vation  of  the  sacrament,  the  moving  of  the  mass  book  from 
one  end  of  the   altar  to  the  other,  which   ceremonies,  from 
their  abuse,  had   been  rejected  by  most  congregations ;  the 
council  ordered  that  as  well  the  parish  priests  as  the  bishops, 
at  their  visitations,  should  endeavor  to  remove  the  abuses 
from  the  minds  of  the  people.     But  if  this  could  not  be 
done  without  rejecting  and  casting  oft' the  ceremonies  them 
selves,  the  bishops,  with  their  chapters,' and  the  most  learned 
of  the  clergy,  should  meet  together  and  deliberate  upon  the 
most  suitable  means  of  getting  rid  of  the  evil,  without  scan 
dal  or  noise.      In  regard  to  exorcism  in  the  baptismal  rite, 
the  council  declared  that  it  was  not  necessary,  but  that,  as 
it  corresponded  with  the  effect  of  baptism,  it  might  be  re 
tained  in  congregations  with  Christian  freedom  ;  the  words, 
"  may  he  depart"   being  substituted  for  "  begone  hence." 
In  retaining  exorcism,  there  was  no   intention  to  condemn 
"  high  persons  here  in  the   kingdom,"  with  whom  it  was 
not  in  use. 

4.  As  the  liturgy,  which  some  of  the  clergy  here  in  the 
kingdom  had  adopted,  was  superstitious  and  promotive  of 


624  HISTORY    OF   THE   EOCLESIASTICAJ, 

scandal,  and  in  its  principles,  altogether  resembling  the 
popish  mass,  so  was  it  disapproved,  together  with  all  its  evil 
train  of  doctrine,  ceremonies,  and  discipline.  The  errors, 
moreover,  were  rejected,  of  the  Zwinglians,  Calvinists,  Ana 
baptists,  and  all  other  heretics. 

5.  The  church  discipline,  so  it  was  said,  was  principally 
made  known  by  the  printed  church  ordinances ;  but  as  its 
exercise  had  been  for  some  time  neglected,  all  now  promised 
to  put  it  in  force,  and  what  was  wanting  in  written  prescrip 
tions,  the  care  of  the  bishops  and  chapters  was  to  supply. 

6.  Although  the  council  considered  that  foreign  modes  of 
faith  could  not  be  allowed  to  become  established  in  the  king 
dom,  yet,  as  they  could  not  well  be  hindered,  it  was  resolv 
ed  that  the  professors  of  such  modes  of  faith  should  not 
be  allowed  to  hold  any  public  meetings,  in  houses  or  else 
where  ;  and  the  council  threatened  those  with  punishment, 
who  were  convicted  of  the  same,  or  who  spoke  injuriously 
of  the  religion  of  the  land. 

7.  Whatever  else  was  agreed  upon  and  resolved  in  this 
council,  should  be  forthwith  made  known  in  print.      This 
promise,  however,  remained,   by   the  circumstances   of  the 
times,  unfulfiled. 

In  co'nclusion,  they  all,  with  great  unanimity,  pledged 
themselves,  by  God's  help,  to  hold  fast,  and  maintain  the  de 
crees  that  had  been  passed,  committing  themselves  and  their 
cause  into  the  hands  of  Almighty  God,  "  His  Divine  Maj 
esty,"  as  they  express  themselves,  "  being  to  us  a  gracious 
defence,  and  ever-ready  shield." 

The  decrees  of  the  council  of  Upsala,  the  fundamental 
principles  of  the  Swedish  church  unto  this  day,  were  pub 
lished  and  proclaimed  in  the  name  of  Charles,  the  chief 
feudatory  noble  of  the  kingdom  of  Sweden,  and  in  the  name 
of  the  council  of  the  kingdom,  and  of  the  bishops  and  nu 
merous  clergy,  who  had  been  present.  They  were  subscri 
bed  by  the  duke,  council  of  the  kingdom,  knights,  nobles, 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  625 

clergy,  and  men  of  the  market  towns,  for  themselves  and 
their  successors,  on.  the  20th  of  March,  on  which  day  the 
subscribers,  though  a  small  number  only  of  the  members  of 
the  council,  first  enrolled  their  names.  The  decrees,  how 
ever,  were  sent  around  the  dioceses,  in  copies  which  were 
subscribed  by  those  who  had  been  present  at  the  council. 
Nor  was  this  done  by  them  only,  but  as  the  synod  had  de 
sired,  by  all  others,  by  the  council  of  the  kingdom,  the  bish 
ops,  knights  and  nobles,  priests  and  crown  officers,  individu 
ally,  and  by  the  burgomasters  and  councils  of  towns,  in  the 
name,  and  with  the  seals  of  their  corporations.  The  vow 
was  appended,  that  this  document  should  be  for  them  and 
their  posterity  perpetual. 

These  subscriptions  were  continued  during  the  following 
spring  and  summer.  Many  of  the  councillors  and  others 
travelled  about  in  various  parts  of  the  land,  to  make  the 
people  acquainted  with  the  decrees.  A  century  later,  when 
the  Swedish  church,  in  1693,  celebrated  the  jubilee  of  the 
council  of  Upsala,  a  copy  of  the  decrees  of  the  council,  with 
the  names  of  all  the  subscribers 'collected  together  and  in 
order,  was  issued  to  each  diocese.  The  names  appended 
arc  those  of  duke  Charles,  duke  Gustavus  of  Saxony  and 
Westphalia,  the  nephew  of  king  G-ustavus  I.,  fourteen 
councillors,  seven  bishops,  218  knights  and  nobles,  137 
holders  of  court  offices,  1,558  priests,  of  whom  250  were  of 
the  diocese  of  Abo  ;  making  a  sum  total  of  1,934  persons. 
To  these  are  to  be  added  the  subscriptions  of  the  burgo 
masters  and  councils  of  30  towns,  and  that  of  an  agent  who 
came  from  Narva,  for  the  purpose  of  signing  in  behalf  of  the 
burghers  of  that  town,  both  Swedes  and  Finns.  The  list  is 
closed  with  197  names  from  the  remoter  provinces  and  dis 
tricts. 

The  Swedish  people  rose  up  as  one  man,  publicly  and 
unanimously  to  confess  and  acknowledge  the  faith  in  which 
alone  they  found  unity  and  peace. 

27 


626  IIISTOKY    OF    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

The  cause  was  won,  and  the  descendants  of  the  men  who, 
by  an  honest  war  against  that  cause,  had  in  reality  promo 
ted  and  perfected  the  victory,  now  by  subscribing  the  de 
crees  at  the  council  of  Upsala,  gave  up  the  formularies  of 
their  fathers.  Among  those  who  subscribed,  are  to  be 
found  a  nephew  of  bishop  Brask,  and  a  son  of  Dionysius 
Burroeus. 

The  recognition  of  the  council  by  king  Sigismund  was 
still  wanting,  and  it  was  uncertain  if  this  could  be  won  from 
him.  In  vain  did  Thure  Bjelke  the  councillor,  who  was 
sent  in  the  summer  of  1593  to  Poland,  use  all  his  efforts 
for  that  purpose.  But  the  dread  entertained  of  the  king's 
obstinacy,  was  one  of  the  causes  that  roused  the  Swedish 
people  to  enter  warmly  into  the  the  contest  for  the  freedom 
of  their  church.  When,  therefore,  king  Sigismund,  on  dis 
embarking  at  Stockholm,  on  September  30,  1593,  was  met  at 
the  castle  bridge,  not  only  by  duke  Charles  and  the  council 
of  the  kingdom,  with  others,  but  by  the  clergy,  headed  by 
the  newly  elected  and  newly  returned  archbishop  Abra 
ham  Andreas,  the  token  of  respect  was  an  expressive  sign, 
that  there  was  no  intention  of  neglecting  the  council  of 
Upsala,  or  of  slighting  its  decrees. 

The  autumn  slipped  by  in  fruitless  negotiations  and  a 
suspicious  ;  apprehension  and  occasional  malign  occurrences 
increased  the  bitter  feeling  toward  papists.  In  the  churches 
E.  Schepper,  and  the  Jesuits  who  came  in  the  train  of  the 
king,  preached  against  each  other.  Scenes  of  violence  oc 
curred,  and  only  under  protection  of  Polish  weapons  could 
the  bodies  of  the  popish  priests  who  died  be  buried  in  the 
churchyards.  It  was  demanded,  that  the  king  should 
banish  from  the  country  the  papal  legate,  Malaspina,  who 
had  accompanied  him  hither.  Although  that  Jesuit,  in 
defiance  of  the  prohibition  of  the  council  of  the  kingdom, 
attended  the  funeral  obsequies  of  king  John  at  Upsala,  the 
alarming  menaces  he  received  forced  him  and  his  compeers 


REFORMATION   IN   SWEDEN.  627 

to  abstain  from  burying  in  the  cathedral  of  Upsala.  On 
the  occasion  to  which  we  have  just  referred,  being  February 
1,  1594,  the  sermon  delivered  over  the  body  of  the  deceased 
king  was  preached  by  the  man  he  most  hated,  Abraham 
Andre®. 

When  king  Sigismund  had  come  to  Upsala,  where, 
after  his  father's  obsequies,  his  own  coronation  was  to  take 
place,  and  where  the  estates  of  the  kingdom  were  summoned 
to  meet  him,  the  subject  of  giving  his  sanction  to  the 
council  of  Upsala  was  brought  before  him.  The  king 
who,  soon  after  his  return  to  Sweden,  had  stopped  the  printing 
of  the  decrees  of  the  council  of  Upsala,  finding  there  was  no 
hope  for  its  entire  suppression,  endeavored  to  obtain  such 
a  modification,  as  respect  for  the  faith  he  professed  might 
authorize  him  to  demand  and  expect  from  the  estates  of 
the  kingdom.  He  offered  to  confirm  the  religion  which  was 
current  and  received  at  the  close  of  his  grandfather's  and 
beginning  of  his  father's  reign.  He  required  merely  the 
suppression  of  the  points  which  related  to  free  exercise  of 
any  other  faith  than  the  evangelical  Lutheran  confessions. 
He  promised  to  give  his  sanction  to  the  council  of  Upsala 
on  condition  that  the  estates  of  the  kingdom  should  re- 
examine  its  decrees.  He  finally  shrunk  his  demands  to  the 
single  request,  that  the  yet  unfinished  church  of  Sodermalm, 
in  the  suburbs  of  Stockholm,  might  be  opened  for  the  ex 
ercises  of  his  religion.  All  was  in  vain  ;  nothing  was  con 
ceded  beyond  what  had  already  been  conceded — the  right  of 
the  king  to  have  the  papal  service  performed  in  his  own 
court. 

When  the  negotiations  had  for  some  time  been  carried  on, 
under  a  growing  impatience  on  the  part  of  the  estates, 
and  an  attempt  to  divide  them  on  the  part  of  the  king's 
faction,  and  to  gain  over  at  least  the  peasantry,  the  estates 
assembled,  on  the  llth  of  February,  at  the  college,  in  the 
same  room  where  the  church  council  had  met.  The  arch- 


628  HISTORY    OF    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL 

bishop  read  the  decrees  of  that  council,  and  asked  if  the 
estates  were  willing  to  abide  by  them.  The  four  estates 
now  entered  on  an  examination  of  the  several  parts  of  those 
decrees.  Soon  after,  the  priests  and  burghers  individually 
made  known  to  the  archbishop,  who  filled  the  place  of 
prolocutor,  their  resolve  not  to  deviate  from  the  evangelical 
doctrine,  but  for  it  to  venture  life  and  goods.  So  also  did 
the  commons,  and  finally  the  knights  and  nobles,  who  all 
pledged  themselves  as  willing  for  that  faith  to  live  and  die. 
They  declared,  that  whoever  apostatized  from  this  faith 
should  lose  all  their  inheritance,  and  if  their  children  for 
sook  it  they  should  be  disinherited  by  the  parents.  The 
same  punishment  was  to  be  meted  to  those  who  allowed 
their  children  to  be  brought  up  in  any  other  faith.  All 
this  was  confirmed  by  all  the  estates,  with  the  addition,  that 
whoever  refused  to  subscribe  the  decrees  of  the  council  of 
Upsala,  should  be  incapacitated  from  holding  any  spiritual 
or  temporal  office  in  the  kingdom,  and  that  the  exercise  of 
no  foreign  religion  should  be  allowed,  except  in  the  king's 
chapel.  After  this  solemn  confirmation  of  the  council  of 
Upsala  had  been  given,  the  whole  asssembly  fell  on  their 
knees,  while  thanksgiving  and  prayers  to  God  were  read  by 
the  archbishop. 

Two  days  after,  on  February  13th,  the  declaration  that 
had  passed  and  been  engrossed  was  read.  The  commander 
of  the  military  forces,  who  had  not  been  present  on  the 
1 1th  of  February,  was  now  called  up,  and  on  the  archbishop's 
putting  the  question,  declared  his  hearty  assent  to  the 
decrees  of  the  council.  A  member  of  the  acsembly  was 
appointed  to  inform  the  king  of  what  had  been  done. 

Finally,  on  the  16th  of  February,  the  king  promised 
unconditionally  to  accept  the  decrees  of  the  council ;  on 
occasion  whereof,  the  following  day,  being  the  first  Sunday 
in  Lent,  the  Te  Deum  was  sung  in  the  cathedral  of 
Upsala.  The  archbishop  elect  of  the  council,  who  preached 


REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN.  629 

that  day,  and  himself  raised  that  Te  Dcum,  had  not  yet 
received  the  king's  confirmation  to  office.  It  was  not  sur 
prising  that  Sigismund  should  withhold  it  to  the  last 
moment,  from  the  avowed  foe,  not  only  of  his  own,  but  his 
father's  doctrinal  views.  It  was  given,  however,  at  the  last 
hour,  on  the  evening  of  February  18th,  and  on  the  follow 
ing  morning  he  was  consecrated,  by  the  bishops  of  Linkop- 
ing,  Westerns,  Strangness  and  Abo.  On  the  same  day 
took  place  the  coronation  of  the  king.  The  king  was  spared 
the  humiliation  of  being  compelled  to  allow  the  arch 
bishop  to  place  the  crown  on  his  head,  and  put  on  him  the 
other  regalia.  But  even  in  this  transaction  was  marked  the 
victory  gained  by  protestantism.  The  bishop  of  Linkoping, 
who  was  preferred  by  the  king,  was  not  allowed  to  perform 
the  act,  but  the  archbishop  drew  back,  only  on  condition 
that  Petrus  Jonas,  bishop  of  Striingness,  scarce  less  odious 
than  himself,  should  take  his  place. 

The  king,  on  this  occasion,  pledged  himself  to  protect  and 
preserve  his  subjects  in  their  religion  according  to  the  Augs- 
burgh  confession  of  faith  of  the  year  1530,  such  as  it  was 
at  the  close  of  king  Gustavus's  and  beginning  of  king  John's 
reign,  and  as  it  had  been  settled  by  the  council  of  Upsala  in 
1593,  and  that  none  should  suffer  let  or  molestation  for  the 
profession  of  that  faith.  Some  weeks  later,  he  confirmed 
and  certified  the  demands  presented  by  the  clergy  at  the 
council  of  Upsala,  and  which  had,  though  in  a  mitigated 
form,  been  offered  the  king  for  his  recognition.  The  king 
obligated  himself  to  nominate  as  bishop,  one  of  three  per 
sons  presented  to  him  "  by  the  clergy,  chapter,  and  diocese." 
Of  the  privileges  reserved  to  the  bishops  by  the  council  of 
Upsala,  those  only  were  confirmed  which  gave  them  the 
power  to  appoint  and  displace  priests  and  scholars  according 
to  the  ecclesiastical -ordinance  of  1571  and  the  ordinantia 
of  Westeras.  The  right  of  the  chapter  to  give  its  assent, 
and  the  jus  palronatus,  were  protected,  as  also  the  king's 


630  ECCLESIASTICAL    REFORMATION    IN    SWEDEN. 

right  to  confirm  in  office  the  pastors  of  cities,  and  those 
of  the  royal  benefices.  A  church  council  was  not  to  be 
called  without  the  king's  consent ;  but  the  archbishop,  who, 
by  virtue  of  his  office,  "  ought  to  have  honor  and  authority 
above  other  bishops,"  was  to  possess  the  right,  aided  by  the 
different  chapters,  of  holding  a  general  visitation  throughout 
the  kingdom.  Bishops  were  to  have  the  right  of  pronounc 
ing  sentence  of  excommunication.  If  the  excommunication 
was  not  regarded,  the  case  was  to  be  referred  to  the  king. 
The  academy  of  Upsala  was  to  be  well  supported,  and  kept 
up  in  strength.  The  king,  by  advice  of  d«ke  Charles  and 
the  council  of  the  kingdom,  was  to  settle  the  incomes  of 
churches,  priests,  schools  and  chapters.  The  tertial  tithes 
were  confirmed.  In  all  disputes  that  concerned  temporal 
matters,  .the  clergy  were  to  plead  before  the  assize  of  the 
district,  in  spiritual  causes  before  the  bishop  and  chapter. 


We  have  already  begun  to  trespass  on  that  circle  of  time, 
in  which  the  eye,  looking  forward,  contemplates  that  devel 
opment  of  the  church  for  the  enjoyment  and  possession  of 
which  the  Swedish  people  endured  a  struggle  of  seventy 
years. 

Blessed  be  the  memory  of  the  fathers  who  bequeathed  to 
posterity  the  good  inheritance.  Amen. 


APPENDICES. 


.     THE  CONVERSION  OF  THE  SWEDES  TO  CHRISTIANITY, 

UNDER  the  kings  and  queens  of  the  Yngling  race,  the  darkness  of 
heathenism  reigned  over  the  land  of  the  Swedes.  Some  knowledge, 
however,  of  Christianity  was,  in  all  probability,  acquired  by  its  in 
habitants  through  the  commerce  which,  in  the  third  and  fourth  cen 
turies,  was  carried  on,  to  a  greater  or  less  extent,  with  Constantinople, 
where,  even  before  its  change  of  name  from  Byzantium,  the  gospel 
had  gained  a  permanent  settlement.  But  the  conversion  of  Sweden 
to  the  faith  of  Christ  was  not  undertaken  by  missionary  zeal,  till  the 
earlier  part  of  the  ninth  century.  In  the  year  of  our  Lord  817,  Louis, 
the  son  of  Charlemagne,  conferred  with  certain  bishops  on  the  most 
advisable  means  of  converting  the  northern,  regions  to  Christianity, 
and  induced  Pope  Paschal  to  appoint  Ebbo,  at  that  time  archbishop 
of  Rheims,  as  apostle  of  all  the  North.  But  Ebbo,  although  not 
contemning  the  papal  bull  and  order,  preferred  the  quiet  of  his  see 
to  the  risk  of  a  journey  to  Sweden,  and  the  probable  crown  of  mar 
tyrdom.  The  coldness,  however,  of  the  archbishop  did  not  wholly 
defeat  the  purpose  of  the  emperor.  Solicited  by  a  message  from  the 
then  king  of  Sweden,  he  sent,  in  829,  a  Benedictine  monk  named 
Anscar  or  Ansgarius,  who  afterward  became  the  first  archbishop  of 
Hamburgh,  with  directions  to  use  his  zeal  in  converting  the  nations  of 
the  North,  and  bringing  them  into  obedience  to  the  chair  of  Rome. 
After  a  year  spent  with  some  success,  Anscar  returned  to  the  emperor  ; 
but  as  neither  the  king,  Biorn  III.,  nor  his  people,  were  convened,  it 
cannot  be  said  that  Sweden  was  yet  Christianized 

That  the  spark  kindled  by  Anscar  might  not  be  wholly  extin 
guished,  Pope  Gregory  IV.  deputed,  in  836,  Gautbert,  or  Simon,  as 
he  is  sometimes  called,  to  carry  on  the  work  of  conversion ;  and  with 
this  object  in  view,  conferred  on  him  the  episcopal  dignity.  But  the 
rashness  of  this  missionary  and  his  fellow-laborer  Nitard,  caused  them 
to  be  driven  from  the  land  ;  and  they  left  no  favorable  impression 
behind  them.  This  event  distressed  the  pious  heart  of  Anscar,  who 
not  only,  in  837,  sent  the  eremite  Ardgar  to  king  Biorn,  but  urged 


632  APPENDICES. 

on  bishop  Gautbert  to  return  once  more  to  Sweden,  fortified  with  o 
papal  bull  and  the  archiepiscopal  authority.  This  prelate,  however, 
excused  himself,  on  the  plea  of  being  too  distasteful  to  the  Swedes, 
and  proposed  his  relative  Erimbert  as  worthy  the  commission  of  a 
missionary  to  that  people.  At  length,  and  because  no  other  would, 
without  him,  undertake  the  office,  Anscar  himself,  in  860,  commenced 
a  second  journey  to  Sw-eden,  accompanied  by  Erimbert,  with  a  letter 
of  recommendation  from  the  emperor  Louis  to  king  Olof.  In  this- 
latter  journey  Anscar  obtained,  before  returning  to  his  see  of  Ham 
burgh,  a  free  permission  to  preach  the  gospel  throughout  the  land  ;  and 
converts  were  made.  But  a  hundred  years  were  yet  to  elapse,  before 
Sweden  could  properly  be  said  to  have  embraced  Christianity.  And 
although  Anscar,  who  died  at  Hamburgh  in  869,  did  not  neglect  the 
seed  which  he  had  sown,  but  sent  two  able  missionaries,  Ragimbert 
and  Rimbert,  to  strengthen  the  things  that  remained  ;  and,  although 
the  archbishops  of  Bremen,  where  the  see  of  Hamburgh  was  re 
moved,  either  themselves,  as  in  the  case  of  archbishop  Unno,  went 
to  Sweden  or  sent  others  to  labor  in  that  field,  yet,  during  the  whole 
of  the  ninth  and  tenth  centuries,  the  gospel  and  heathenism  were  still 
in  conflict  for  the  mastery.  The  Swedish  writers  themselves  attribute 
this  slow  progress  of  divine  truth,  partly  to  the  greater  interest 
shown  by  the  missionaries  in  winning  the  people  and  their  kings  to 
an  obedience  to  the  Roman  chair  than  to  a  knowledge  of  the  gospel, 
and  partly  to  the  policy  of  the  rulers,  who  feared  openly  to  avow 
themselves  in  favor  of  a  new  religion  which  admitted  no  compromise 
with  the  old. 

Not  till  a  thousand  years  after  the  birch  of  our  Lord,  did  Suithiod^ 
the  kingdom  of  Sweden  and  the  Goths,  become  obedient  to  the  faith. 
At  this  time  Olof  Skotkonung,  or  the  lap-king  (so  called  because  he 
was  made  king  when  yet  an  infant  in  his  mother's  lap),  was  ruler  of 
the  land,  and  inherited  from  his  father  Erik  the  throne  of  Upsala. 
The  king  of  Norway,  Olof  Trygasson,  whose  people  had  been  already 
converted  to  the  gospel,  had  received  from  England  a  bishop  named 
Sigurd  or  Sigfrid,  who,  together  with  his  prince,  had  become  offen 
sive  to  the  Norwegians.  The  bishop  fled  to  Upsala,  to  king  Olof 
Skotkonung,  who  kindly  welcomed  him,  and  when  sufficiently  in 
structed,  received  from  him,  A.  D.  1001.  the  rite  of  baptism,  at  a  place 
still  called,  from  the  event,  the  spring  of  Sigfrid.  This  memorable 
baptism,  which  gives  to  Olof  Skotkonung  the  honor  of  being  the  first 
Swedish  monarch  that  openly  professed  the  Christian  faith,  was  fol 
lowed  by  commotions  excited  on  the  part  of  those  who  still  adhered 


APPENDICES.  633 

to  heathenism,  except  in  Westgothland,  where  the  rite  had  taken 
place,  and  where  Christianity  had  been  most  widely  diffused.  To  this 
diffusion  king  Olof  Trygasson,  of  Norway,  had  in  no  small  degree  con 
tributed,  by  the  introduction  of  English  priests,  especially  after  the 
intermarriage  of  his  sister  Ingeborg  with  Olof  Skotkonung's  coxisin- 
german,  Kagwald  Ulfsson,  jarl  or  earl  of  "Westgotha,  who  himself 
received  baptism,  with  many  of  his  courtiers,  relatives,  and  people. 
This  example  was  soon  followed  by  men  of  every  rank ;  and  the  zeal 
of  Sigfrid  was  not  without  abundant  fruit  in  the  soil  which  before  him 
king  Trygasson  had  caused  to  be  sown. 

The  work  of  conversion  was  ably,  zealously,  and  with  success,  car 
ried  on  during  the  reign  of  Skotkonung,  to  whom  the  archbishops  of 
Bremen  had  sent  Odinkar,  the  elder  and  younger,  Gothbald,  an  Eng 
lishman,  Folgard,  a  German,  and  others,  to  assist  and  strengthen  the 
pious  purposes  of  the  monarch.  Among  these  missionaries  should 
not  be  omitted  the  mention  of  Torgoth,  a  learned  ma.n,  devoted  to  his 
work  of  evangelizing  the  North.  He  came,  in  1010,  to  Sweden,  to 
whose  queen  and  infant  princes  he  administered  baptism,  and  became 
the  first  bishop  of  the  diocese  of  Skara,  established  by  his  exertions. 

King  Olof  Skotkonung  had  so  long  welcomed  the  teachers  sent  him 
by  the  archbishops  of  Bremen,  and  submitted  himself  in  whatever 
concerned  religion  to  their  guidance,  that  archbishop  Unvan,  as  papal 
legate,  conferred  on  him  the  title  of  Most  Christian  King,  a  title 
which  his  son  and  other  successors  to  the  throne  of  Sweden  long 
retained,  and  of  which  the  kings  of  France  also,  for  many  ages,  made 
their  boast.  But  King  Olof  soon  had  reason  to  hold  such  flatteries  in 
suspicion,  and  to  observe,  that  those  prelates  had  in  view  to  subject 
his  kingdom,  under  pretences  of  religion,  to  the  authority  and  do 
minion  of  the  Roman  see.  He  began,  therefore,  to  look  for  teachers 
from  another  quarter.  The  neighborhood  of  England,  especially  to 
Westgothland,  where  the  teachers  of  the  gospel  had  found  the  most 
ready  welcome,  naturally  attracted  his  attention ;  and  accordingly  wo 
find  that  many  of  the  missionaries  in  this  king's  reign  were  sent  to 
Sweden  from  the  British  isle.  Among  them  the  most  conspicuous  is 
St.  Sigfrid,  who,  actuated  by  a  like  zeal  with  his  predecessor  of  the 
same  name,  left  his  archdeaconry  of  York  in  England,  and  passing 
through  Norway,  came,  in  1020,  accompanied  by  his  three  nephews, 
to  preach  and  plant  the  everlasting  gospel  in  the  kingdom  of  the 
Goths.  His  steps  were  soon  followed  by  other  teachers,  as  Eskii  and 
David,  from  the  same  shores.  These  men  at  first  established  them 
selves  in  no  particular  locality,  but,  like  the  apostles  of  old,  journeyed 

27* 


634  APPENDICES. 

wherever  time  and  circumstances  seemed  most  to  require  their  pres 
ence  for  the  preaching  and  proclaiming  grace  and  salvation  through 
Jesus  Christ.  In  process  of  time,  however,  they  found  it  necessary 
to  imitate  the  other  parts  of  Christendom,  in  establishing  centres  of 
action,  which  were  to"  constitute  the  future  sees  of  Sweden.  Thus? 
St.  Sigfrid,  after  having  long  preached  the  gospel  over  almost  every 
part  of  the  land,  settled  at  Wexio,  as  the  first  bishop  of  that  diocese, 
where  he  died  in  1067.  St.  Eskil  organized,  after  many  labors  in  the 
work  and  duty  of  a  missionary,  the  diocese  of  Strangness,  where,  in 
1076,  he  received  the  crown  of  martyrdom  from  the  hands  of  those 
who  still  retained  their  adhesion  to  the  old  idolatry;  while  St. 
David,  at  an  extreme  old  age,  died,  in  1080,  in  the  see  which  he  had 
established  in  Westeras. 

These,  together  with  Skara,  are  the  oldest  dioceses  of  Sweden  ;  and 
it  is  not  without  reason,  that  her  historians  attribute  to  the  reign  of 
Skdtkonung  the  first  firm  establishment  of  Christianity  in  the  land  of 
their  fathers,  and  the  commencement  of  all  that  can  claim  the  clear 
light  of  history  in  her  civil  or  ecclesiastical  annals. 


II. 

TRANSLATION  OF  A  LETTER,  FROM  STOCKHOLM,  WRITTEN  IN  LATIN, 
BY  A,  G,  KNOS,  DOCTOR  AND  PROFESSOR  OF  THEOLOGY  IN  THE 
UNIVERSITY  OF  UPSALA. 

To  THE  REVEREND  DR.  HENRY  M.  MASON  . 

REVEREND  SIR  :  I  seem  to  myself  at  liberty,  with  propriety,  to 
count  it  among  the  pleasant  and  honorable  events  which  have  occur 
red  to  me,  that  the  book  which  I  published  on  the  constitution  of  the 
Swedish  church,  has  become  known  to  you,  reverend  sir,  and  that 
you  have  sought  more  accurate  information  on  a  subject  which  has 
appeared  worthy  of  a  further  explanation.  Your  letter,  Reverend 
Sir,  dated  the  19th  January,  of  this  year,  in  reference  to  this  subject, 
and  which  is  an  evidence  alike  of  your  courtesy,  learning,  and  piety, 
I  have  received  with  the  grateful  feelings  which  it  merits ;  and  in 
carefully  replying  to  it,  will  endeavor,  to  the  best  of  my  power,  to 
explain  the  matter  in  question,  concerning  the  succession  which  is 
called  apostolic,  of  the  bishops  of  Sweden.  The  evangelical  Luther 
an  Swedish  church,  does  not,  indeed,  make  this  question  of  such  im 
portance  as  does  the  reformed  episcopal  Anglican  and  American 
church,  but  that  we  do  not  altogether  neglect  it,  appears  from  my 
book  just  mentioned. 


APPENDICES.  635 

In  treating  this  subject,  the  first  point  to  be  considered  is,  on  what 
authorities  rest  the  constant  opinion  and  declaration  of  our  historians 
that  Petrus  Magni,  bishop  of  Aro via,*  received  episcopal  consecration 
at  Rome.     It  will  readily  be  agreed  between  you  and  me,  Reverend 
Sir,  that  the  testimony  of  Roman  catholics  themselves,  who  lived  at 
the  same  time  with  Petrus  Magni,  and  were  intimately  connected 
with  him,  must  be  of  great  weight  in  proof  of  that  point.     Two  such 
testimonies  I  am  able  to  present.      In  the  first  place  (and  this  is  most 
worthy  of  regard,  and  would,  if  nothing  else  could  be  shown,  put  it 
beyond  doubt,  that  this  was  so  done),  it  is  read  in  the  diary  of  Wad- 
sten,  as  written  down  in  their  diary,  by  the  monks  of  that  monas 
tery  (whose  brother,  that  is  a  presbyter  monk,  Petrus  Magni,  had 
been),    from  the  time,  when  returning  from  Rome  to  his  country, 
he  took  up  his  abode  with  the  monks  of  Wadsten,  and  informed  them 
of  his  consecration  received  at  Rome.     In  that  great  work,  which  is 
entitled  "  Writers  of  the  Swedish  Affairs  of  the  Middle  Ages,"  edited 
in  folio,  torn,  i,  at  Upsala,  1818,  there  is  extant,  a  very  recent  and 
accurate  edition  of  the  annals  of  Wadsten,  from  which  the  following 
particulars  are  very  accurately  transcribed.     At  the  year  1524  (1.  4, 
page  218),  it  is  said   "  on  the  eve  of  the  separation  of  the  apostles, 
came  our  brother  Petrus  Magni,  consecrated  at  Rome,  as  bishop  of 
Arovia ;  received  in  the  hall  of  the  proctor,  he  then  spent  two  days 
in  the  infirmary  of  the  monastery,  entertained  with  collationst  among 
us.     He  afterward  retired  to  the  diet  of  Joncopia."J      In  the  same 
diary,  for  the  year  1499  (1.  c.  page  204),  it  is  written  :  "  that  the  lord 
Petrus  Magni  was  consecrated  for  a  brother  priest ;"  and  again,  for 
the  year  1508   (1.    c.,  page  209),    "  Brothers    Petrus  Ingemar  and 
Petrus  Magni,  went  forth  for  the  recovery  of  the  house  of  our  mother 
St.  Bridget  "I! 

*  From  ancient  times,  even  to  our  age,  that  city  (and  therefore  diocese)  is 
called,  in  Latin,  Arovia,  which  poetically  is  termed  Westeras.  For,  the  first  and 
most  ancient  name  of  this  city  was  Westra  Aros.  i.  e.  Western  Arovia  (wester, 
westra,  is  poetically  the  same  as  in  English  west) ;  but  because,  from  the  twelfth 
century,  the  name  of  Eastern  Arovia  was  become  obsolete  ;  (previously  the  port 
and  suburbs  of  Up-ala  were  so  called) ,  Arovia  is  always  the  same  as  Westeras. 

t  Collacionando,  a  barbarous  term  whose  neare-t  primitive  we  must  probably 
deem  to  be  Co  Hot  if).  We  suppose  that  by  this  is  signified,  that  the  monks  ofWad- 
ston  received  and  honored  Petrus  Magni  with  a  somewhat  more  generous  enter 
tainment,  which  surely  was  done  on  account  of  his  episcopal  dignity. 

J  The  diet  is  the  same  as  the  comitia  of  the  realm.  This  year  it  seems  the 
Comitia  of  the  realm  was  held  at  Joncopia.  At  that  time,  as  is  now  the  case,  by 
law  the  bishops  were  <ib!ige  1  to  be  present  at  the  comitia  of  the  realm. 

||  The  monastery  of  Wadsten  was  of  the  order  of  St.  Bridget.  Of  this  order 
and  monastery,  St.  Bridget  was  the  founder  (>t.  Br'getta),  a  noble  Swedish 
woman,  [died  at  Rome,  1'573]  who  spent  some  time  in  Rome,  and  there  obtained 
a  house  appropriated  to  herself.  This  house  was  afterward  considered  as  belong 
ing  in  some  sort  to  the  monastery  of  Wadsten  ;  on  which  account  some  monk  of 
Wadsten  almost  always  dwelt  "at  Rome,  and  had  care  of  the  house  of  St. 
Bridget.  This  house  was  at  that  time  the  hospitium  of  the  Swedes  who  were 
staying  at  Rome. 


636  APPENDICES. 

Another  proof  of  this  point  is  found  in  the  epitaph  of  Petrus  Magni 
which  was  most  certainly  composed  by  some  Roman  catholic,  and, 
indeed,  not  long  after  the  death  of  Petrus  Magni,  who  departed  lift! 
1534.  This  epitaph  is  to  be  found  in  the  great  work  of  J.  Messenius 
which  is  entitled,  "  Scaudia  Illustrated,"  torn,  ix.,  page  4'J.  This 
work  was  printed  at  Stockholm  in  1700.  It  is  proper,  by  the  way, 
to  mention  that  this  Messenius  was  enrolled  among  the  holy  persons 
of  the  papists.  This  is  the  epitaph  : 

"  Stranger,  pausing  awhile,  learn  something  of  me  and  my  com 
plaints,  which,  perhaps,  it  will  do  you  <o  harm  to  know. 

"  I  was  Petrus  Magni,  called  so  after  the  manner  of  the  Swedes  ;*  a 
monk  of  Wadsten,  and  thence  am  I  created  a  doctor. 

"  For  being  sent  to  Rome,  I  learned  not  without  quickness,  the  arts, 
and  chiefly  those  which  relate  to  sacred  things  ;  which  gave  me  my 
degree. 

"  In,  the  mean  time,  our  farm  was  p\it  under  my  care,  and  the  house 
itself,  of  Chloris,t  in  addition  to  the  field. 

"Being  elected  bishop  by  the  fathers  of  Arovia,  I  am  theret  conse 
crated.  At  length,  I  return  home  to  my  chair.  I  repented  of  my 
return,  because  the  king,  about  to  introduce  the  doctrine  of  Luther  in 
the  country,  was  making  there  everything  new.  It  is  not  allowed 
me  to  return  to  my  cloister,  as  I  often  desired  ;  nor  am  I  permitted 
to  have  care  of  the  faith,  as  I  ought  to  have.  II  Not  a  few  bishops  re 
main  consecrated  by  me,  some  of  whom  have  left  the  faith. §  Thence 
to  the  Lutherans  sprung  a  clergy  in  the  land  of  the  Swedes,  and  that 
wounds  my  mind. 

"  Worn  out  for  the  work  of  religion,  by  these  and  other  evils,  which 
were  more  than  the  stars,  I  commend  my  weary  soul  to  the  powers 
above,  but  they  my  body  to  the  ground.  And  now,  stranger,  you 
may  take  your  departure." 

Notes  by  me  [KnosJ  added  : 

*  Petrus  Magni,  to  wit  the  son,  poetically  Magnusson  ,  so  also  in  English,  An 
derson,  &c. 

t  Under  a  poetic  title  St.  Bridget  is  thus  not  obscurely  indicated.  See  note  || 
preceding  page 

J  i.  e.  at  Rome,  which  clearly  appears  from  the  context.  The  ancient  chron 
icle  of  the  bishops  of  Arovia,  written  in  the  Swedish  tongue,  adds,  that  this  was 
done  by  a  certain  cardinal. 

||  History  informs  us,  that  Petrus  Magni,  even  to  the  close  of  his  life,  favored 
the  form  of  the  religion  of  the  papists,  though  cautiously  and  timidly. 

$  Petrus  Magni,  on  the  5th  of  January,  1528,  consecrated  at  Strangness,  as 
bishops.  Magnus  Uaralds  for  Skara,  Magnus  Sommar  for  btrangness,  and  Martin 
Skytte  for  Abo.  The  two  former  did  not  leave  the  form  of  the  pontifical  reli 
gion.  One  of  them,  namely,  Magnus  Haralds,  left  his  country,  as  an  exile, 
in  1529  ;  the  other,  namely. 'Magnus  Sommar,  abdicated  his  bishopric  in  1537, 
and  being  endowed  by  king  GustavusI,  with  an  annual  stipend,  passed  the  last 
part  of  his  life  in  the  monastery  of  Krokok.  See  also  below. 


APPENDICES.  C37 

If  you  ask  further  evidence,  by  which  the  consecration  of  bishop 
Petrus  Magni  may  be  proved,  it  may  well  be  alleged  that  after  his  re 
turn  from  Rome  to  his  own  country,  he  always  wrote  himself  bishop 
of  Arovia,  never  elect.  Many  documents,  in  proof  of  this,  are  extant. 
Those  which  follow,  I  adduce  from  the  great  collection  of  diplomas 
edited  by  Hiernman,  the  keeper  of  the  archives  of  the  kingdom. 
And  the  autographs  of  the  diplomas,  are  kept  in  the  archives  of  the 
kingdom.  The  title  of  Hiernman's  book  is.  "  Riksdagors  och  Motens 
Beslut,"  i.  e.,  "  Decrees  of  the  Diets  and  Councils  of  Sweden ;"  and 
this  work  is  edited  in  4to,  at  Stockholm,  1728,  seq.  In  torn,  i., 
page  40,  of  this  work,  is  read  a  diploma,  given  January  24,  1526, 
written  in  the  German  language,  which  begins  thus  :  "  Ni  Nachges- 
chrifwene,  Johannes  des  Erstifts  Upsala  electus,  Johannes  der  kirkeii  zu 
Linkoping,  Petrus  zu  Westeras  Bischof,  Magnus  zu  Skara,  und  Mag 
nus  zu  Strengniis  electi,"  (fee.,  i.  e.,  rendered  word  for  word  :  "  We,  the 
underwritten,  John  of  the  archdiocese  of  Upsala  elect,  John  and  Peter, 
bishops  of  the  churches  of  Linkopa  and  Arovia,  Magnus  of  Skara,  and 
Magnus  of  Striingness,  elect,"*  &c.  Another  diploma,  dated  at  Aro 
via,  on  the  day  of  John  the  Baptist,  1527,  written  in  Swedish,  and 
cited  by  you,  Reverend  Sir,  in  your  letter  to  me,  in  exhibiting  the 
consent  of  the  bishops,  on  the  aforesaid  day,  to  an  Arovian  recess, 
begins  thus:  "Thy  Hans,  rued  Gudz  nad,  biscop  i  Linkoping,  Pader, 
med  Samma  nad,  biscop  Vesteras,  Magnus  Scara  och  Magnus  Striing- 
nas,  med  somma  nad  electi,"  &c.,  i.  c.,  rendered  into  Latin:  "We, 
John,  by  the  grace  of  God,  bishop  of  Lincopa,  Petrus,  by  the  same 
grace,  bishop  of  Arovia,  Magnus  of  Skara  and  Magnus  of  Striingness, 
by  the  same  grace,  elect,"  tfec.  I  wish  you  to  observe,  that  John  Brask 
and  Petrus  Magni,  in  both  diplomas,  are  called  in  exactly  the  eame 
manner,  bishops ;  and  that  both  are  distinguished  by  the  same  mark 
of  dignity  from  the  other  two,  elect.  We  must  also  attend  to  the  or 
der  in  which  their  names  are  in  this  place  recited.  For  the  old  order 
of  the  dioceses  of  Sweden,  from  the  first  propagation  of  Christianity 
through  Sweden,  to  the  present  day,  has  been  uncorruptedly  preserved. 

*  John,  who  is  named  in  the  first  place  in  this  diploma,  is  John  Magni,  born 
1488,  legate  of  the  pope  to  king  Gustavus,  1522,  elect  archbishop  of  Upsala,  1521. 
At  first  a  refugee  to  Poland,  in  the  month  of  October,  1526.  He  afterward  went 
to  Rome,  wlieie  he  died,  1~>44.  John,  who  is  here  named  in  the  second  place,  is 
John,  [poetically  Hans,  according  to  a  common  Swedish  abbreviation  of  the 
name  John.  Sec  inf.  dip.  seq.]  I>rask.  born  1464  ;  bishop  of  Lincopa,  1513.  He 
eft  the  kingdom  of  Sweden.  August  1527,  and  died  in  the  monastery  of  Olivae, 
lear  Uantsuk.  in  Poland,  1538.  Petrus  is  that  Petrus  Magni  of  whom  we  now 
hiefly  treat,  whose  name,  in  the  following  diploma,  is  written  Pader,  according 
o  the  old  common  Swedish  pronunciation  of  his  name,  which  in  our  daily  talK 
s  now  so  contracted  as  to  be  written  Par,  Per.  Petri. — Of  these  two  here  named 
Magnus,  ^ee  above  note  f . 


638  APPENDICES. 

1,  Upsala,  an  archdiocese,  however  ;  2,  Lincopa  ;  3,  Skara  ;  4,  Strang- 
ness  ;  5,  Arovia ;  *6.  Wexio  ;  7,  Abo  ;  8,  Lund,  from  the  year  1658, 
when  the  province  of  Scania  was  subjected  to  the  dominion  of  the 
Swedes;  9,  Gothoborg,  from  the  year  1655;  10,  C aim ar,  from  the 
year  1678  ;  11,  Carlstadt ;  12,  Hernoland  ;  13,  Wisby,  from  the  year 
1772.  Abo  is  now  subject  to  the  empire  of  Russia.  It  easily  ap 
pears,  that  Petrus  Magni,  whose  diocese  was  the  fifth  in  order,  ob 
tained  in  these  diplomas,  the  place  in  which  his  name  appears,  on  no 
other  account,  than  because  he,  equally  as  John  Brask,  was  a  conse 
crated  bishop  ;  and  therefore  his  name  was  placed  before  the  names 
of  Magnus  of  Skara  and  Magnus  of  Strangness,  although  the  episco 
pal  sees  of  both  these,  otherwise  always  preceded  that  of  Arovia. 
This  argument  is  shown  to  be  of  great  force,  from  the  circumstance, 
that  as  soon  as,  at  Strangness,  1528.  Magnus  Harald  and  Magnus 
Sommar  were  consecrated,  another  order  of  their  names  makes  its 
appearance.  Thus,  the  decree  of  the  coxincil  of  Orebro,  held  in  the 
year  1529  begins  (Hiernman,  1.  c.  page  92)  :  "  Ny  eiterscreffue,  Lau- 
rentius  Andrea?  eirkideken  Upsala,  fra  erkiebiskops  sates  vagner  pre" 
sidens,  och  Hogmechtigh  Furstes  konung  Gustaffs  fulJmindighi  sen" 
debudh ;  Magnus  Haralds  i  Scara  ;  Magnus  Sommar  i  ; 

och  Petrus  Magni  i  Westeras,  biscopa  ;"  in  Latin  :  "We  the  under 
written,  Laurence  Andrese,  archdeacon  of  Upsal,  presiding  in  the 
place  and  name  of  the  archiepiscopal  see,  and  sent  plenary  legate  of 
the  most  potent  prince,  king  Gustavus  ;  Magnus  Haralds,  of  Skara ; 
Magnus  Sommar,  of  Strangness,  and  Petrus  Magni,  of  Arovia,  bish 
ops."  In  this  diploma,  the  true  order  of  dioceses  and  bishops,  used 
even  to  our  time,  is  preserved.  So  it  is  in  other  acts.  Lastly,  I 
might  produce  the  unanimous  consent  of  the  historians  of  Sweden, 
the  cotemporaries  of  this  Petrus  Magni,  and  those  more  recent.  But 
let  us  forbear  their  testimony.  We  hold  it  for  certain,  that  the 
above  evidence  sufficiently,  and  more,  attests  to  all,  even  the  most 
critical,  the  historic  faith  of  a  matter  so  transacted. 

Let  us  pass  then  to  the  other  part  of  this  question,  viz.,  that  the 
first  evangelical  Lutheran  bishops  of  the  Swedish  church  were  con 
secrated  by  Petrus  Magni.  Proofs  of  this  exist  in  the  epitaph  above 
cited,  and  in  the  chronicles  of  Sweden,  written  at  the  very  time.  In 
these  chronicles  it  is  recorded,  that  king  Gustavus  L,  was  anxious 
concerning  the  apostolic  succession  of  the  bishops  of  Sweden,  and 
that  for  this  reason,  Petrus  Magui,  by  order  and  admonition  of  the 
king,  received  consecration  nt  Rome,  with  the  very  object,  that  by 
him  this  succession  might  be  preserved  and  propagated  ;  moreover, 


APPENDICES.  639 

that  Petrus  Magni,  by  order  of  the  king,  on  January  5, 1528,  atStriing- 
ness,  consecrated  as  bishops,  Magnus  Haralds  for  Skara,  and  Magnus 
Sommar  for  Strangness,  also  Marten  Skytte  for  Abo  ;  moreover, 
that  at  Stockholm,  in  the  same  year,  on  the  Sunday  next  before  the 
feast  of  St.  Michael  (September  22),  in  the  church  of  the  Francis 
cans,  (at  this  time  Ridathholm),  Laurentius  Petri  elect,  archbishop  of 
Upsala,  was  consecrated  by  the  same  Petrus  Magni,  and  Magnus 
Sommar ;  all  those  three,  then  very  lately  consecrated  bishops,  also  as 
sisting,  as  some  annalists  assert.  Thus  it  is  proved,  that  the  thing  was 
done,  even  with  reclamation  (we  may  say  protest  or  reservation,  though 
less  properly  in  Latin),  by  the  bishops  Petrus  Magni,  and  Magnus 
Sommar.  Two  well-known  canons,  adherents  of  the  papal  church 
were  present,  when  this  reclamation  was  drawn  up  and  confirmed, 
with  the  subscribed  names  of  these  four.  In  this  writing,  these 
bishops  declare,  that  not  of  their  own  accord,  but  yielding  to  the 
powerful  .authority  of  the  king,  and  salvo  jure  of  the  Roman  pontiff, 
they  had  willed  the  episcopal  consecration  conferred  on  the  other 
bishops  and  the  elect  archbishop.  This  reclamation,  which  they 
certainly  thought  not  of  making  public,  unless  a  changed  order  of 
ecclesiastical  affairs  in  the  country,  should  perhaps  reqxiire  it,  to  de 
fend  themselves  by  it  before  the  papists,  was  found  after  their  death, 
and  is  preserved  in  the  archives  of  the  kingdom.  Written  in  the 
Swedish  tongue,  it  is  too  long  to  be  now  transcribed  by  me  and 
turned  into  Latin.  This  reclamation  was  printed  in  a  collection  of 
acts  upon  the  history  of  the  Reformation  of  Sweden,  by  P.  E.  Thy- 
felius,  doctor  of  theology,  edited  at  Stockholm,  1841,  f.  99,  under  the 
title,  "Handlingar  till  Noriges  Reformations  och  kyrkohistoria.' 
There  is  also  read  in  vol.  2,  page  21,  f  99:  "The  archbishop  Lau 
rence  Petri,  lived  to  the  year*1573,  and  through  the  whole  of  this 
time,  the  space,  therefore,  of  45  years,  executed  the  archiepiscopal 
office.  There  can  be  no  doubt,  that  all  the  bishops  of  Sweden,  who 
were  at  this  time  elected  and  confirmed  by  the  king,  were  consecra 
ted  by  him,  though  the  place  and  day  of  consecration  we  cannot  indi 
cate  in  all  cases.  This  is  proved  chiefly  by  three  arguments.  1.  The 
apostolic  succession  of  bishops,  was,  from  the  very  beginning  of  the 
Reformation,  a  subject  of  great  regard  with  king  Gustavus  I.  2.  A 
law,  to  this  day  incorruptly  observed,  orders  that  no  bishop,  before 
he  be  consecrated,  shall  enter  on  the  episcopal  office,  or  preside  in  a 
diocesan  chapter,  or  perform  in  any  manner,  the  duties  of  the  episco 
pal  office,  or  enjoy  the  returns  and  emoluments  of  his  office.  Where 
fore,  from  the  times  of  which  we  speak,  to  our  own  age,  the  custom 


640  APPENDICES. 

has  prevailed,  that  every  bishop,  immediately  after  he  has  been  elect 
ed  and  confirmed,  and  so,  in  the  space  of  one  or  another  week,  at  the 
most  of  one  or  another  month,  has  been  consecrated.  3.  When  in  the 
reign  of  John  III.,  who  too  much  favored  popery,  bishops  were  to  be 
consecrated,  a  great  dispute,  indeed,  arose  concerning  the  rites  and 
ceremonies  with  which  this  consecration  should  be  performed  ;  be 
cause  the  king  wished  all  the  ceremonies  of  the  papists  introduced  in 
these  acts,  while  the  clergy  admonished  him.  that  certain  of  these 
ceremonies,  as  redolent  of  superstition,  had  not  for  some  time  been 
observed  in  the  consecration  of  the  bishops  of  Sweden.  Yet,  not  a 
word  was  said  of  the  bishops  themselves,  to  wit,  whether  they  should 
be  considered  to  have  received  legitimate  consecration,  and  were  able 
to  impart  it  to  others.  This  was  not  doubted,  either  by  the  king,  or 
by  the  legate  of  the  Roman  pontiff,  the  well-known  cardinal  Posse- 
vin,  who  then  treated  with  the  king  in  Sweden.  I  am  not  ignorant 
that  some  of  the  papists,  in  later  times,  have  been  unwilling  to  admit 
this  apostolic  succession  of  the  bishops  of  Sweden.  But  they  have 
been  able  to  bring  none  at  all,  or  very  foolish  arguments  to  sustain 
this  opinion.  Some,  indeed,  have  said,  that  we  ought  to  prove  the 
consecration  of  Petrus  Magni,  performed  at  Rome,  by  documents 
drawn  from  the  archives  of  the  Roman  pontiff.  But  how  could  that 
be  done  ?  since,  to  these  archives  access  is  given  to  no  protestant,  and 
the  papists  themselves,  by  no  means  wish  to  publish  any  such  testi 
mony.  Moreover,  they  pretend  that  if  it  be  granted  that  Petrus 
Magni  was  legitimately  consecrated,  it  does  not  thence  follow  that 
the  consecration  he  imparted  to  others  is  legitimate;  since  it  was 
both  done  without  the  assent  of  the  Roman  pontiff,  and  Petrus  Magni 
himself  wrote  a  secret  reclamation  of  this  act.  But  it  cannot  escape 
you,  Reverend  Sir,  that  such  a  kind  of. argument,  openly  contradicts 
the  doctrine  of  the  papists  themselves,  concerning  the  force  and  effi 
cacy  of  the  opus  operatum.  In  the  same  manner,  pei'haps,  they 
might  call  in  question  the  apostolic  succession  of  the  protestant 
bishops  of  England  and  America. 

The  matter  being  thus  explained,  I  hope  that  the  act  itself  may  be 
considered  worthy  of  acceptation.  Most  surely  I  seem  able  to  con 
tend,  that  no  historian,  who  should  examine  a  thing  proved  by  so 
many  and  important  documents,  would  refuse  his  belief  in  it. 

To  you,  Reverend  Sir,  I  give  and  entertain  the  greatest  gratitude, 
that  you  have  been  pleased  to  write  to  me.  Surely  the  time  has 
come,  when  it  is  necessary  that  Europeans  and  Americans  should 
more  and  more  be  united  in  a  literary  commerce.  I  cannot  but 


APPENDICES.  641 

grieve,  that  the  theological  and  ecclesiastical  literature  which  at  this 
time  flourishes  under  happy  auspices  iu  the  republic  of  North 
America,  with  the  exception  of  a  few  names  is  almost  wholly  un 
known  in  Sweden.  I  am  ashamed  to  confess  this  ;  but  I  promise, 
with  all  my  heart,  that  I  will  labor  with  all  zeal  as  far  as  in  me 
lies,  that  this  evil  or  disadvantage  may  be  removed. 

Farewell.     God  be  with  you,  wishes,  with  sincere  prayer, 

Your  most  devoted, 

A.  G.  KNOS. 
Given  at  Stockholm,  on  the  14th  day  ) 

of  May,  in  the  year  1857.  j 


III. 

TRANSLATION,  MADE  IN  SWEDEN,  OF  A  ROYAL  RESCRIPT,  REL 
ATIVE  TO  ENGLISH  CANDIDATES  FOR  CONFIRMATION. 

CARL  JOHN  BY  THE  GRACE  OF  GOD,  <fcc. 

By  our  royal  grace  and  favor,  $c.,  $-c. 

WHEREAS,  on  the  21st  of  March  last,  you  have  represented,  *  * 
that  frequent  applications  may  now  be  made  in  the  city  of  Gothen- 
berg  for  the  rite  of  confirmation  ;  that  although  the  English  Factory 
there  existing  is  furnished  with  a  special  minister,  he,  the  aforesaid 
minister,  is  not  empowered  to  perform  the  act  of  confirmation,  which, 
according  to  the  statutes  of  the  English  episcopal  church,  can  only 
be  done  by  a  bishop  :  AND  WHEREAS,  the  bishop  of  London,  under 
whose  authority  the  aforesaid  minister  is  placed,  having  denied  him 
the  right  to  confirm,  has  yet  found  a  Swedish  bishop  competent  so 
to  do  :  AND  WHEREAS,  moreover,  a  Mr.  Nonnen,  merchant  of  the 
city  of  Gotheuberg,  being  of  the  English  nation  and  church,  has 
made  application  to  you  for  the  confirmation  of  his  daughter  :  AND 
WIIERKAS,  yoii  desire  that  we  would  graciously  allow  Swedish  bishops 
to  confirm  children  belonging  to  the  church  of  England,  according 
to  the  rules  of  the  jitual  of  the  Swedish  church,  provided  the  afore- 
t.aid  children  possess  sufficient  knowledge  of  the  doctrine  of  salvation, 
together  with  the  first  rudiments  in  the  Swedish  language  ;  by  which 
gracious  permission  these  our  subjects  would  be  spared  the  great 
inconvenience  of  taking  their  children  to  England  for  confirmation, 
without  which  the  right  of  entering  into  the  state  of  matrimony  and 
other  privileges  cannot  be  obtained  :  ANTD  WHEREAS,  you  finally, 
humbly  advance,  that  you,  for  your  own  part,  would  not  scruple  to 


642  APPENDICES. 

fulfil  such  desire  on  the  part  of  brethren  in  faith,  the  more  so,  as 
evangelical  tenets  are  daily  becoming  more  and  more  united,  and  that 
you  consider  that  the  act  of  confirmation  might  be  performed  in  such 
wise  that  the  English  minister  having  let  candidates  either  in  presence 
of  the  congregation  (which,  however,  is  not  customary  in  England)  or 
of  the  bishop,  give  proof  of  possessing  the  requisite  knowledge  of 
the  parts  prescribed ;  the  examination  might  be  conducted  in  the 
English  tongue,  the  bishop  performing  the  act  of  confirmation,  ac 
cording  to  the  prescriptions  of  the  Swedish  ritual,  reading  the  "  Our 
Father,"  and  using  the  laying  on  of  hands,  in  England  considered 
essential :  AND  WHEREAS,  you  desire  that  this  confirmation,  in  order 
to  avoid  attracting  public  attention,  or  causing  disturbing  assem 
blages  of  people,  might  be  performed  in  the  English  Factory  church  : 
THEREFORE,  in  view  of  these  things,  "We  have  found  good  to  grant 
you  the  right  of  confirming  members  of  the  church  of  England  in 
the  manner  humbly  proposed,  whenever  application  shall  be  made 
to  you  to  that  etfect.  We  therefore  graciously  give  you  these  iu 
answer  for  your  guidance. 

We  graciously  recommend  you  to  the  Almighty  God. 

CARL  JOHAN, 

A.  C.,  OP  SKFLBBRQ. 
Stockholm  Castle,  kth  May,  1837- 
To  the  Bishop  of  Gothenberg, 

C.  F.  WINGARD. 
In  witness  whereof, 

Ex-ojficio, 

OSCAR  ED.  RAHE, 

Cons't  Not'r. 


FROM  THE  PRESENT  CHURCH  MANUAL ;   OR,  BOOR  OF  COMMON 

PRAYER  OF  THE  SWEDISH  CHURCH, 

• 

CONTENTS  OF  THE  WHOLE  VOLUME  : 

CHAP.  I. —  Of  the  Public  Divine  Service. 

1.  Morning  worship. 

2.  Noon  divine  service. 

3.  Afternoon  worship. 
Week  preachings. 


APPENDICES.  643 

Chapter  interpretations. 

The  public  morning  and  afternoon  prayers. 

High  court  and  other  court  time  preachings. 
CHAP.  II.     The  Litany,  and  sundry  other  forms  of  prayer. 
CHAP.  III.     Of  Baptism. 

1.  Infant  Baptism. 

2.  Foundling  Baptism. 

3.  Private  Baptism. 

4.  Baptism  of  Mahometans,  Jews,  and  Heathens. 

CHAP.  IV.  How  it  ought  to  be,  when  young  persons  go  for  the  first 
time  to  the  Lord's  Supper. 

CHAP.  V.     Of  public  confession. 

CHAP.  VI  How  it  shall  be  with  the  sick,  and  those  who  are  trou 
bled  on  account  of  their  sins  and  weakness  of  faith. 

CHAP.  VII.     Of  marriage. 

CHAP.  VIII.     Of  churching  of  women. 

CHAP.  IX.     How  the  body  shall  be  buried. 

CHAP.  X.  How  those  who  are  doomed  by  civil  courts  to  undergo 
public  penance,  shall  be  received  into  connection  with  the  congre 
gation. 

CHAP.  XI.     Of  the  preparation  of  prisoners  doomed  to  death. 

CHAP.  XII.     How  a  new-built  church  shall  be  consecrated. 

CHAP.  XIII.     How  a  bishop  shall  be  installed  into  office. 

CHAP.  XIV.     Of  ordination  to  the  bishop's  office. 

CHAP.  XV.     How  a  rector  shall  be  installed  into  a  congregation. 


CHAPTER  I. 

OF   THE   PUBLIC   DIVINE   SERVICE, 

ON  SUNDAYS  AND  HOLIDAYS. 

1. — Morning   Worship. 

Jt  is  to  begin  with  a  morning  psalm  or  some  other  suitable  psalm.  After 
a  verse  in  the  pulpit  is  to  be  read  the  usual  morning  prayer. 

I  thank  thee  heavenly  Father,  through  Jesus  Christ  thy  well  be 
loved  Son,  that  thou  hast  preserved  me  this  night  from  all  hurt  and 
danger  ;  and  beseech  thee  to  forgive  me  all  my  sins,  and  mercifully 


644  APPENDICES. 

to  preserve  me  this  day  from  sin,  misfortune,  and  all  evil,  so  that  my 
thoughts  and  all  my  actions  may  be  acceptable  to  thee.  I  commit 
myself  in  body  and  soul  into  thy  hands.  May  thy  fatherly  care  be 
my  protection.  Amen. 

Our  Father  who  art  in  heaven,  <kc. 

Then  are  explained,  on  fast-days,  the  texts  appointed  therefor,  and  on 
high  fast-days  texts  suitable  therefor,  but  on  Sundays  a  portion  from  the 
Catechism.  After  the  sermon  is  to  be  read,  on  Sundays,  the  prayer, 
"Praised  be  God  and  blessed  forever,"  fyc.^  (Seep.  };'but  in  its 
place,  on  festivals,  that  compiled  for  the  day  and  the  prayer  introduced  in 
chap.  2.  Afterward  the  prayers  for  princes,  and  the  sick ;  lastly,  the 
Our  Father,  <$c.,  and  the  blessing;  then,  divine  service  is  closed  icith  a 
short  psalm. 

2. — Noon  Divine  Service 

Is  begun,  according  to  the  nature  of  circumstances  and  plat,+s.  with  a 
short  psalm.  After  the  priest  meanwhile  has  gone  before  tht  altar,  he 
continues,  turned  to  the  people,  to  say  the  begun  divine  service,  thus  : 

Holy,  Holy,  Holy,  Lord  God  Almighty  !  The  heavens  and  the 
earth  are  full  of  thy  glory.  We  praise  thee,  we  honor  thee,  we 
worship  thee,  we  give  thanks  to  thee  for  thy  great  glory,  0  Lord  God, 
heavenly  King,  God  the  Father  Almighty !  O  Lord  the  only  begotten 
Sou  of  the  All  Highest,  Jesus  Christ  !  O  holy  Spirit,  Spirit  of  peace, 
truth  and  grace. 

.  O  eternal  God,  all  thy  works  praise  thee.  Eternal  as  thou  art  is 
thy  power :  unchangeable  thy  Godhead.  Look,  O  eternal  Father, 
with  clemency  upon  a  people  assembled  in  thy  sanctuary,  to  adore 
thee,  to  give  thee  thanks  for  thy  blessings,  and  to  invoke  thy  grace 
for  their  spiritual  and  bodily  welfare.  Enlighten  our  understanding 
by  thy  wisdom,  and  make  our  hearts  to  lay  before  thee  a  holy 
offering  of  a  true  obedience.  Loaded  with  the  weight  of  our  sins,  we 
fall  down  before  thee  in  the  dust,  and  beg  of  t'.iee  forgiveness  and 
grace,  O  God  our  Saviour !  Merciful  and  good  art  thou  :  great  in 
grace,  and  pitiful.  Hear  graciously  the  xinited  sighs  which  are  here 
lifted  up  to  thy  throne  ! 

Here  the  priest,  together  with  the  congregation,  falls  on  his  knees  and 
prays  : 

I,  poor,  sinful  man,  who,  born  in  sin,  afterward  also,  through  all 
my  life  in  manifold  ways,  have  trespassed  against  thee,  confess  with 
all  my  heart,  before  thee,  holy  and  righteous  God,  O  Father,  foun 
tain  of  love,  that  I  have  not  loved  thee  above  all  things,  nor  my 


APPENDICES.     .  645 

neighbor  as  myself.  Against  thee  and  thy  holy  commandment  hnve 
I  sinned  in  thought,  word,  and  deed,  and  to  me,  therefore,  would  there 
be  an  eternal  condemnation,  if  thou  shouldst  condemn  me  as  thy 
justice  demands  and  as  my  sins  have  deserved.  But  now  hast  thou, 
beloved,  heavenly  Father,  promised  with  mercy  and  grace  to  embrace 
all  penitent  sinners,  who  turn  themselves  to  thee,  and  with  a  lively 
faith  fly  to  thy  fatherly  mercy,  and  the  merit  of  the  Redeemer  Jesus 
Christ.  In  him  thou  wilt  overlook  what  they  have  trespassed  against 
thee,  and  never  more  impute  to  them  their  sins.  On  this  do  I  poor 
sinner  depend,  and  trustingly  pray,  that  thou,  according  to  the  same 
thy  promise,  wouldst  be  compassionate  and  gracious  to  me,  and  for 
give  me  all  my  sins,  to  the  praise  and  glory  of  thy  holy  name. 

May  the  Almighty  God,  for  his  great  unfathomable  mercy,  and 
the  merit  of  the  Redeemer,  Jesus  Christ,  forgive  us  all  our  sins 
and  give  us  grace  to  amend  our  life,  and  to  obtain  with  him  the  life, 
everlasting !  Amen. 

Then  the  priest  reads : 
Lord,  have  mercy  upon  us. 
Christ,  have  mercy  upon  us. 
Lord,  have  mercy  upon  vis. 

Then,  after  he  has  stood  up  : 

Glory  be  to  God  on  high :  and  peace  on  earth,  to  men  a  good 
will ! 

Or  also  the  congregation  sings,  after  the  priest  has  stood  up  : 

Lord,  have  mercy  upon  us. 

Christ,  have  mercy  upon  us. 

Lord,  have  mercy  upon  us. 

Whereupon,  the  priest  standing,  and  turned  to  the  altar  sings  : 

Glory  be  to  God  on  high  ! 

Afterward  is  sung  a  psalm. 

Then  the  priest  turns  himself  to  the  congregation  and  sings  : 

The  Lord  be  with  you ! 

The  congregation  answers  : 

The  Lord  also  be  with  you  ! 

Or  the  priest  reads  (if  hen  the  congregation  does  not  answer)  : 

The  Lord  be  with  you  ! 

The  priest  turns  himself  again  to  the  altar  and  reads  or  sings  ;  on 
fast-days  and  occasional  high  festivals,  the  prayer  which  hereafter  fol 
lows  ;  but  on  Sundays  and  other  holy  days,  that  which  stands  before  the 
epistle. 

Let  us  pray! 


646  APPENDICES. 

"We  beseech  thee,  Almighty  God,  heavenly  Father,  that  thou  grant 
us  a  true  faith,  a  steadfast  hope  in  thy  mercy,  and  a  just  love  to  our 
neighbor,  through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord  !  Amen. 

Afterward  are  read  or  sung  the  texts  of  the  day,  on  which  there  is  no 
preaching,  and  they  may  be  thus  prefaced  : 

The  following  words  writes  the  prophet  N.,  or  evangelist  N.t  or 
apostle  N. 

Then  is  to  be  read  or  sung  the  creed,  during  which,  in  the  former 
case,  the  priest  stands  turned  to  the  congregation.  If  it  is  sung,  it  is 
customary  to  introduce  the  creed  rhymed  in  the  psalm-book. 

When  the  creed  is  read,  the  apostles'1  creed  may  be  used. 

We  believe  in  God  the  Father  Almighty,  maker  of  heaven  and 
earth.  We  believe  also  in  Jesus  Christ,  his  only  son,  our  Lord,  who 
was  conceived  by  the  Holy  Ghost ;  born  of  the  Virgin  Mary  ;  suffered 
under  Pontius  Pilate,  crucified,  dead,  and  buried  ;  descended  into 
hell ;  risen  again  on  the  third  day  from,  the  dead ;  ascended  into 
heaven ;  sitting  on  the  right  hand  of  God  the  Father  Almighty ; 
thence  coming  to  judge  the  quick  and  dead. 

We  believe  also  in  the  Holy  Ghost ;  a  holy  Christian  Church,  the 
communion  of  saints  ;  the  forgiveness  of  sins ;  the  resurrection  of 
the  dead  and  a  life  everlasting. 

Afterward  is  sung  a  suitable  short  psalm  or  verse  in  the  pulpit ; 
after  which  preaching  is  held,  on  the  subject  either  of  the  ordinary  texts, 
or  on  those  proclaimed  for  days  set  apart. 

On  high  festivals,  fast  days,  New-  Year's  day,  Good  Friday,  Holy 
Trinity,  and  Advent  Sunday,  is  sung  an  appropriate  psalm  for  the 
Memories.  After  preaching,  follows,  on  common  Sundays,  the  prayer, 
"  Praised  be  God,"  <$-c.,  and  then  "  Merciful  God"  <$-c. ;  but  on  Fast 
days,  the  Litany  ;  on  Lent  Sundays,  on  passion  preachings,  on  Good 
Fridays,  the  passion  prayer  ;  and  on  the  high  festivals,  the  select  prayers 
appointed  therefor ;  and  then  follow,  the  prayer  for  princes,  the  prayers 
for  certain  occasions  (c.  g.  Diet  prayers  during  the  session  of  the  Diet), 
for  the  fruits  of  the,  earth  (that  for  the  common  season),  intercessions  for 
the  sick,  thanksgivings  for  the  recovered  and  for  the  dead,*  the  bidding  of 

*  The  mode  of  thanksgiving  for  the  dead 

A  new  remembrance  of  our  mortality  is  left  us  to  day,  when  before  this  Chris 
tian  congregation  is  made  known,  that  the  Most  High  has  willed,  after  his  all- 
wise  counsel,  to  call  from  hence  N.  N.,  after  a  life  of  — years,  —  months, — 
days  :  N.  N.,  after  a  life  of  —  y.,  —  m.,  —  d. 

After  all  are  named  in  one  and  united  thanksgiving,  it  is  added 

In  submission  to  God's  will,  we  revere  his  providence,  and  desire  grace  so  to 
think  on  our  own  understood  departure,  that  when  death  calls  us  we  may  be 
prepared  for  a  happy  decease  (here  a  necessary  caution  in  distinct  cases  is  to  be 
observed. 


APPENDICES.  647 

banns,*  the  Lord's    Supper  prayer   (when  the  Lord's  Supper  is  cele 
brated),  and  finally  the  Our  Father,  $c. 

Then  are  to  be  recited  the  king's  orders,  and  the  respective  notices  of 
colleges  and  office  men,  (which  ought  to  be  left  with  the  clergy  before 
divine  service  is  begun),  and  finally  closing  good  wishes  over  the  con 
gregation. 

Pi  aycr  after  preaching  : 

Praised  be  God  and  blessed  forever,  who  has  comforted,  taught, 
advised,  and  warned  us  with  his  word.  May  his  good  Spirit  main 
tain  the  same  in  our  hearts,  that  we  may  not  be  forgetful  hearers  of 
his  word,  but  daily  increase  in  faith,  hope,  love,  and  patience  to  the 
end,  and  be  saved  through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord.  Amen. 

Merciful  God,  Father  of  all  good,  whose  mercy  endureth  from 
generation  to  generation!  Thou  art  patient,  long-suffering,  and 
forgivest  all  those  who  repent  of  their  misdeeds  and  sins !  Look 
pitifully  on  thy  people,  and  hear  thy  children's  sighs  !  We  have 
sinned  :  we  have  been  ungodly,  and  thereby  become  unworthy  thy 
goodness  and  love ;  against  thee  have  we  sinned,  and  have  done  evil  be 
fore  thee  ;  but  remember  not  our  transgressions.  Have  mercy  upon  us. 
Help  us,  O  God,  our  Saviour,  for  thy  name's  sake.  Save  us  and  for 
give  us  all  our  sins,  and  give  us  the  grace  of  thy  Holy  Spirit  to 
amend  our  sinful  life,  and  to  obtain  an  eternal  life  through  Jesus 
Christ  our  Lord.  Amen. 

"We  call  upon  thee,  O  eternal  and  almighty  God,  the  creator  and 
preserver  of  all  things.  Have  mercy  upon  us  for  Jesus  Christ's  sake, 
whom  thou,  after  thy  wonderful  counsel,  hast  ordained  as  a  mediator 
and  for  a  propitiatory  offering  for  our  sins,  that  thou  mightest  mani 
fest  both  thy  justice  and  thy  mercy.  Sanctify  and  govern  us  with 
thy  Holy  Spirit.  Gather,  strengthen,  and  preserve  thy  Christian 
people  through  the  word  and  holy  sacraments.  Give  us  grace, 
according  to  this  word,  to  pass  with  a  right  faith  to  a  holy  life. 
Preserve  and  bless  our  beloved  king  (here  to  be  introduced,  according 
to  circumstances,  the  rest  of  the  royal  family),  the  kinsmen  of  the  royal 
family,  all  trusty  officials,  all  the  land  and  sea  forces,  and  all  the 
other  inhabitants  of  the  kingdom,  to  the  honor  of  thy  holy  name  and 
the  mutual  welfare  of  us  all.  Bless  the  administration  of  the  king 
dom,  give  peaceful  and  happy  social  intercourse,  good  and  suitable 

*  The  bidding  of  banns  takes  place  thus: 

A  Christian  agi  cement  to  marry  is  published  in  this  congregation  the  first, 
(sec"nd  third)  time,  between  N.  N. and  N.  N. ;  the  first  (second  third)  time, 
between  N.  N.  and  N.  N.  (and  so  on,  and  to  the  end,  till  ail  publications  are  re- 
eittd).  And  there  is  wished  them,  to  this  important  union,  happiness  and  the 
blessing  of  God,  who  has  instituted  marriage. 


648  APPENDICES. 

weather,  equitable  and  Christian  counsel  to  all  that  we  undertake, 
and  after  this  life,  an  eternal  salvation,  through  thy  Son  Jesus  Christ, 
our  Lord.  Amen. 

Another  : 

We  thank  thee,  Almighty,  heavenly  Father,  for  all  the  grace  and 
all  the  blessings  which  we,  through  thy  fatherly  care,  daily  enjoy — for 
all  the  good  things  our  souls  possess — for  every  blessed  hour  when  we 
delivered  ourselves  up  to  the  contemplation  of  thine  infinite  love — for 
all  the  good  purposes  which  thou  hast  awakened  in  us,  and  for  every 
deed  good  and  acceptable  to  thee,  which  we  have  been  able  to  per 
form  through  thy  grace. 

We  thank  thee  for  the  patience,  wherewith  thou  hast  borne  with 
us — for  thy  fatherly  long  suffering,  wherewith  thou  hast  overlooked 
our  faults,  which  we  confess  and  repent  in  heart — for  every  glad  hour 
thou  hast  bestowed  upon  us,  which  we  have  been  permitted  to  enjoy 
in  thy  blessed  fear,  with  our  neighbors  and  friends — for  all  the  help 
and  care  which  we  even  in  the  things  of  the  body  have  experienced 
when  we,  under  thy  blessing,  have  undisturbed  and  with  success 
been  able  to  pursue  the  business  of  our  calling — that  no  good  thing 
has  been  wanting  to  us — that  we  have  possessed  health  and  strength, 
and  in  the  sweat  of  our  faces  could  gain  and  enjoy  our  daily  bread. 

0  Lord,  we  know  that  all  thy  works  are  goodness,  and  that  thy  love 
to  us  extends  as  wide  as  are  the  heavens.  Who  then  should  not, 
with  humility  and  a  child's  submission  to  thy  will,  bear  the  cross 
thou  imposest!  Oh,  that  in  our  society  no  one  were  himself  the  cause 
of  his  own  trouble  and  destruction.  Father !  thy  will,  thy  righteous 
ness  and  good  pleasure  come  to  pass  always  among  us. 

With  love  and  confidence  of  heart  we  trust  to  thee  our  future 
days.  Be  thou  for  all  time  to  come  our  God  and  Father !  Strengthen 
thou  our  endeavors  for  the  quality  of  a  true  Christian,  after  the  ex 
emplar  of  thy  Son,  to  live  justly,  chastely,  and  godly.  Quicken  us 
hereafter  through  hope  to  an  eternal  salvation,  and  let  us  in  all  con 
ditions  of  life  enjoy  thy  divine  aid  and  presence. 

Fill  our  beloved  king's  heart  with  the  spirit  of  thy  wisdom,  that  it 
may  be  easy  to  him  to  guard  his  important  duties,  so  that  by  his 
wise,  mild,  and  just  reign,  thy  pure  worship  may  be  promoted,  and 
righteousness  and  peace  kiss  each  other.  Protect  and  bless  the 
king's  dearly  beloved  consort  the  queen  (here  is  added,  according  to 
circumstances,  the  rest  of  the  royal  house),  the  kinsmen  of  the  royal 
family,  all  trusty  officials,  all  the  land  and  sea  forces,  and  all  the 
other  inhabitants  of  the  kingdom,  to  the  praise  and  honor  of  thy  holy 


APPENDICES.  649 

name  and  the  mutual  welfare  of  us  all.  Thou  art  a  Father  for  all 
men,  for  the  glad  and  the  sorrowful,  for  the  rich  and  the  poor,  for 
the  happy  and  the  neglected,  for  the  widows  and  the  fatherless — help 
und  comfort  all  who  put  their  trust  in  thee. 

If  thou  wert  not,  0  Lord !  what  were  we  without  thee  ?  But  thou 
art— thou  art  our  hope,  our  refuge,  our  salvation's  God,  the  Father 
of  the  human  race  !  Humble  and  trustful  we  cast  ourselves  before 
thee.  We  laud  to-day  and  forever  thy  name,  for  thou  art  our  God. 
Amen. 

Prayer  for  those  who  shall  go  to  the  Lord's  Supper. 

O  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  who  in  this  holy  supper  givest  us  thy  pre 
cious  body  and  blood,  under  bread  and  wine  !  Grant  those  who  now 
design  to  be  partakers  thereof,  that  they  worthily  receive  it,  to 
strengthen  and  assure  their  faith  in  the  forgiveness  of  sins.  Give 
grace,  that  they  with  right  hearts  call  to  mind  thy  bitter  pains  and 
death,  renew  the  covenant  which  they  entered  into  in  baptism,  and 
seriously  purpose  by  thy  help  to  persevere  in  a  true  faith,  godliness, 
love,  firm  hope  and  Christian  patience,  and  so  not  wilfully  violate 
what  they  with  absolution  have  vowed  in  thy  holy  sight ;  that  thus 
they  may  at  last,  with  all  the  faithful,  be  partakers  of  the  great  sup 
per  in  heaven.  Amen. 

Our  Father,  <fcc. 

After  all  is  ended  in  the  pulpit,  there  is  to  be  sung  a  short  psalm,  or 
some  verses,  during-  which  the  priest  goes  before  the  altar.  When  the 
Lord's  Supper  is  celebrated,  and  the  singing  is  ended,  the  priest,  turned 
to  the  people,  begins  with  this  form  : 

Blessed  Christians  !  Let  us  open  devout  hearts  !  Let  vs  con 
template  with  veneration  the  Supper  of  the  Lord,  in  which  God's 
pitying  love  comforts  penitent  and  burdened  souls.  Hero  is  cele 
brated  to-day  the  Supper  of  Jesus.  Here  is  distributed  and  received 
under  bread  and  wine,  his  body  and  blood,  in  a  supernatural  and 
inscrutable  manner,  according  to  God's  own  wisdom,  truth,  and 
omnipotence,  who  has  himself  ordained  the  Holy  Supper.  How  we 
should  be  qualified  to  become  partakers  of  this  precious  treasure,  the 
apostle  Paul  teaches  us,  when  he  admonishes  that  we,  each  for  him 
self,  examine  ourselves,  and  so  eat  of  this  bread  and  drink  of  thia 
cup.  And  we  have  examined  ourselves  properly,  when,  having 
called  to  mind  our  trespasses  and  sins,  we  hunger  and  thirst  after 
righteousness  and  reconciliation  in  Christ  for  all  that  which  repented 
of  in  this  Sacrament  shall  be  forsaken  ;  nnd  when  we  conceive  an 
earnest  purpose  to  do  better  in  future,  to  forsake  sin,  and  lead  a 

28 


650  APPENDICES. 

godly  Jife.  So  also  has  our  Lord  commanded  us  to  use  this  Sacra- 
ment  in  remembrance,  that  is,  that  we  therewith  call  to  mind  his 
death  and  the  shedding  of  his  blood,  and  think  and  believe  that  it  is 
set  apart  for  the  forgiveness  of  our  sins.  Therefore  if  we,  with 
sincere  repentance  of  heart  and  reliance  on  our  precious  Saviour,  eat 
of  this  bread  and  drink  of  this  cup,  in  a  firm  faith  in  the  word  wo 
here  listen  to,  that  Christ  died  for  us,  and  that  his  blood  was  shed  for 
our  sins ;  so  shall  we  also  be  assured  of  the  forgiveness  of  sins,  be 
delivered  from  the  death  which  is  the  wages  of  sin,  and  obtain  eter 
nal  lite  with  Christ.  But  he  who  unworthily,  that  is  with  an  impeni 
tent  heart,  without  faith  in  God's  promise,  without  placableness,  and 
without  purpose  of  amendment,  eats  of  this  bread  and  drinks  of  this 
cup,  becomes  guilty  of  the  body  and  blood  of  the  Lord,  and  attracts 
to  himself  thereby  condemnation.  Therefrom  may  God  the  Father, 
and  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost,  mercifully  preserve  us.  Amen. 

Afterward  the  priest  sings  or  says,  still  turned  to  the  people  : 

The  Lord  be  with  you  ! 

When  the  priest  says  this,  he  is  not  answered,  but  when  he  sings  it, 
the  congregation  answers  : 

The  Lord  also  be  with  you  ! 

The  priest  further  sings  or  says  : 

Lift  up  your  hearts  to  God  ! 

In  this  case  the  congregation  ansiucrs  : 

God  lift  up  our  hearts  ! 

Afterward  the  priest  says  or  sings,  turned  to  the  altar : 

Our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  in  the  night  when  he  was  betrayed,  took 
the  bread,  gave  thanks,  broke  it  and  gave  his  disciples,  and  said : 
Take  and  eat !  This  is  my  body  .which  is  given  for  you.  Do  this  in 
remembrance  of  me. 

Likewise  took  he  also  the  cup,  gave  thanks,  and  gave  his  disciples, 
and  said  :  Take  and  drink  all  ye  of  this !  This  cup  is  the  New  Tes 
tament  in  my  blood,  which  for  you  and  for  many  is  shed  for  the  for 
giveness  of  sins.  As  often  as  this  ye  do,  do  it  in  remembrance  of 
me. 

Then  is  said  or  sung  : 

Holy,  Holy,  Holy,  Lord  God  Almighty !  Heaven  and  earth  are 
full  of  Thy  glory.  Give  salvation  from  on  high !  Blessed  be  he 
who  cometh  in  the  name  of  the  Lord !  Give  salvation  from  on 
high! 

The  priest  continues  : 


APPENDICES.  65 1 

Let  us  now  all  pray,  as  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  himself  has  taught 
us  : 

Our  Father,  &e. 

Afterward  the  priest  says,  turned  to  the  people  : 

The  peace  of  the  Lord  be  with  you  ! 

The  communicants  now  approach,  and  the  congregation  intones  : 

O  Lamb  of  God,  that  takest  away  the  sins  of  the  world,  save  us, 
merciful  Lord  God  ! 

O  Lamb  of  God,  that  takest  away  the  sins  of  the  world,  hear  us, 
merciful  Lord  God ! 

O  Lamb  of  God,  that  takest  away  the  sins  of  the  world,  give  us 
Thy  peace  and  blessing  ! 

Then  is  sung  by  the  congregation,  sonic  Lord's  Supper  Psalm. 

Daring  the  singing  is  distributed,  to  each  communicant,  first  the 
bread,  wherewith  to  each  and  every  one  is  said : 

Jesus  Christ,  whose  body  thou  partakest,  preserve  thee  to  ever 
lasting  life-  Amen. 

Afterward  the  cup,  wherewith  to  each  and  every  one  is  said: 

Jesus  Christ,  whose  blood  thou  partakest,  preserve  thee  to  ever 
lasting  life  !  Amen. 

After  the  singing  is  ended,  the  priest  says,  turned  to  the  congrega 
tion  : 

The  Lord  be  with  you  ! 

Let  us  give  thanks  and  pray ! 

The  priest  turns  himself  to  the  altar  : 

We  thank  Thee,  Almighty  Father,  who  hast  instituted  this  holy 
Supper  of  the  Lord,  through  Thy  Son.  Jesus  Christ,  for  our  comfort 
and  salvation,  and  we  beseech  thee,  grant  us  grace  so  to  celebrate 
the  remembrance  of  Jesus  on  earth,  that  we  may  also  partake  of  the 
great  Supper  of  the  Lord  in  heaven  !  Amen. 

Or, 

We  thank  Thee,  Almighty  God,  that  thou  hast  comforted  and  le- 
freshed  us  with  this  precious  banquet  of  grace,  and  we  beseech  thee, 
that  it  may  serve  to  strengthen  our  faith,  and  advance  us  in  all  Chris 
tian  graces,  through  thy  Son,  Jesus  Christ,  our  Lord !     Amen. 
********* 

Then  the  priest  turns  himself  to  the  people,  and  sings  : 
Let  us  thank  and  praise  the  Lord  ! 
Hallelujah,  Hallelujah,  Hallelujah! 
The  congregation  answers : 
Thanks  and  praise  be  to  the  Lord  : 


652  APPENDICES- 

Hallelujah,  Hallelujah,  Hallelujah  ! 

Or  also  the  priest  says  : 

Let  us  thank  and  praise  the  Lord  ! 

Thanks  and  praise  be  to  the  Lord  J 

At  length  the  priest  says  : 

Incline  your  hearts  to  God,  and  receive  the  blessing : 

The  Lord  bless  you,  and  keep  you ;  the  Lord  lift  up  his  counte 
nance  upon  you,  and  be  gracious  to  you  ;  the  Lord  turn  his  counte 
nance  upon  you,  and  give  you  an  everlasting  peace,  in  the  name  of 
God  the  Father  and  Son  and  Holy  Ghost  !  Amen. 

After  the  blessing,  is  sung  a  short  psalm  or  verse. 

When  the  Lord's  Supper  is  not  celebrated,  and  all  is  concluded  in  the 
pulpit,  a  psalm  or  verse  is  sung,  after  which,  the  priest,  turned  to  the 
congregation,  sings  or  says  : 

The  Lord  be  with  you ! 

When  the  priest  says  this  there  is  no  answer,  but  when  he  sings  it 
the  congreagtion  answers  : 

The  Lord  be  with  you  also  ! 

Then  the  priest  says  or  sings  the  prayer  after  the  gospel  for  the  da^ 
but  on  prayer  days  the  following  prayer  : 

O  Lord,  Lord  God,  pitiful,  long  suffering,  of  great  grace  and 
mercy !  again  to-day  hast  Thou  called  us  to  amendment  ;  again  to 
day,  dost  Thou  offer  us  Thy  grace.  May  none  among  us  still  harden 
his  heart !  Enlighten  Thou  us,  that  our  repentance  may  be  sincere, 
our  amendment  solemn  and  enduring.  Let  us  never  break  the  vow 
which  we  to-day  have  made  thee  ;  and  grant  us  grace  always  to  be  a 
people  that  under  all  circumstances,  trust  in  Thy  mighty  aid, 
through  Jesus  Christ,  our  Lord  !  Amen. 

Then  the  priest  sings  : 

Let  us  thank  and  praise  the  Lord ! 

Hallelujah,  Hallelujah,  Hallelujah  ! 

The  congregation  answers  : 

Thanks  and  praise  be  to  the  Lord  ! 

Hallelujah,  Hallelujah,  Hallelujah  ! 

Or  the  priest  also  says  : 

Let  us  thank  and  praise  the  Lord ! 

Thanks  and  praise  be  to  the  Lord  ! 

The  priest  at  length  says  : 

Incline  your  hearts  to  God,  and  receive  the  blessing ! 

The  Lord  bless  you  and  keep  you ;  the  Lord  lift  up  his  counte* 
nance  upon  you,  an,d  be  gracious  to  you  ;  the  Lord  turn  his  counte- 


APPENDICES.  653 

nance  upon  you,  and  give  you  an  everlasting  peace,  in  the  name  of 
God  the  Father  and  Son  and  Holy  Ghost !     Amen. 
The  divine  service  is  ended  with  a  psalm  or  verse. 


V. 
AN  OUTLINE  OF  THE  SWEDISH  CHURCH  CONSTITUTION. 

FROM  the  time  of  the  council  of  Upsala,  in  1598,  as  described  in 
Mr.  Anjou's  History  of  the  Reformation,  the  faith  of  the  Swedish 
Church  has  reposed  on  the  Apostle's,  Nicene,  and  Athanasian  creeds, 
in  connection  with  the  Augsburgh  Confession.  She  is  therefore 
catholic,  by  avouching  the  Nicene  creed  as  the  faith  of  Christendom 
through  all  time,  and  protestant  in  the  usual  sense  of  that  term,  as 
rejecting  the  added  corruptions  of  the  church  of  Rome.  At  the 
commencement  of  the  sixteenth  century,  there  was  no  known  com 
munity  of  Christians  that  did  not  recognize  and  acknowledge  the 
visible  church  of  Christ  as  the  depository  of  the  faith  once  delivered 
to  the  saints,  to  be  framed  on  the  principle,  that  there  was  an  order 
of  men  divinely  commissioned  to  administer  to  the  people  in  holy 
things ;  that  of  this  order  one  class,  who  from  the  days  of  the 
apostles  had  been  termed  bishops,  had  alone  received,  and  therefore 
possessed  the  power  of  perpetuating  their  line  and  power,  always, 
even  to  the  end  of  the  world.  This  principle  was  then  known,  as 
it  is  now,  as  the  apostolic  succession.  When  determining,  as  in  the 
foregoing  history  has  been  shown,  to  root  out  of  his  kingdom  the 
corrupt  practices,  and  intolerable  tyranny  of  the  Roman  court,  Gus- 
tavus  Wasa  was  not  the  less  anxious  to  preserve  the  rule,  which  he 
was  aware  had  been  observed  before  and  in  his  time  through  all 
Christendom.  With  this  object  in  view,  he  caused  to  be  consecrated 
as  bishop,  at  Rome,  one  of  the  learned  presbyters  of  Sweden,  and 
through  this  man,  Petrus  Mngni,  as  has  been  seen  in  the  fore 
going  pages,  the  "  apostolical  and  canonical  succession,"  to  use  the 
words  of  one  of  Sweden's  most  eminent  ecclesiastical  historians  and 
bishops,  "  has  been  in  truth  obtained  among  the  Swedes."  On  these 
foundations  of  doctrine  and  discipline,  the  Swedish  church  has  built 
up  an  external  organization,  which,  like  that  in  other  lands,  though 


654  APPENDICES. 

more  intimately  the  case  in  Sweden  than  elsewhere,  has  been  deeply 
influenced  by  the  national  peculiarities. 

At  the  entrance  of  Christianity  into  Sweden,  the  constitution  of  the 
country  was  a  federative  headship.  Each  province  had  its  own  king  ; 
and  in  time  these  petty  kings  became  in  a  degree  subject  to  the  great 
king  at  Upsala,  who  was  there  the  administrator  of  the  religious  rites 
and  pagan  worship.  The  people  were  represented  in  a  general  as 
sembly  by  freeholders,  among  whom  there  was  of  course  a  diversity 
of  influence  ;  the  man  of  law  or  lagman,  being  considered  the  most 
important  personage,  especially  after  the  disappearance  from  the 
scene,  of  the  petty  kings.  The  Roman  church  accommodated  herself 
to  the  condition  and  character  of  the  people  on  the  introduction  of 
the  new  order  of  things.  The  dioceses  were  made  to  correspond 
with  the  old  division  of  provinces,  and  an  archbishop  was  estab 
lished  at  Upsala,  who,  as  well  as  the  other  bishops,  in  many  particu 
lars  filled  the  rank  of  the  ancient  lagman.  The  parallel,  indeed,  be 
tween  the  bishop  and  that  officer  of  the  old  Swedish  people,  is  traced 
in  many  of  the  institutions  and  laws  of  the  kingdom,  and  the  popular 
reverence,  combined  with  traditionary  recollections,  withstood  even 
the  strength  of  Gustavus  I.  in  many  of  his  attempts  to  weaken  the 
episcopal  power. 

The  hierarchy,  on  the  other  hand,  were  unable  to  introduce  the 
canon  law  into  Sweden  ;  and  so  utterly  opposed  were  the  nation  to 
whatever  resembled  arbitrary  rule,  or  an  infringement  of  the  freedom 
which  had  descended  from  their  forefathers,  that  in  reference  to  the 
Jurisdiction  of  the  secular  courts  and  other  particulars  which  still 
existed  in  active  operation  in  Sweden,  pope  Innocent  III.  complains, 
that  "in  no  part  of  th<-.  world  is  the  church  so  subject  to  the  people 
as  in  the  northern  realm."  The  church  of  Sweden  was  in  a  greater 
state  of  freedom  before  the  Reformation  than  that  of  almost  any 
other  land.  It  may  well  be  supposed  that  this  great  event  did  not 
diminish  or  impair  this  freedom,  or  the  spirit  of  that  liberty  where 
with  Christ  has  made  his  people  free.  The  Reformation,  therefore, 
found  in  the  liberties  of  the  church  nnd  in  the  old  spirit  and  freedom- 
loving  character  of  the  Swedish  people,  a  soil  in  which  it  could  easily 
take  root,  and  the  Swedish  church  may  be  said  to  retain  its  ancient 
ieatures  and  characteristics  to  the  present  time,  with  the  exception 
of  those  corruptions  which  the  middle  ages  had  introduced,  and  such 
changes  as  circumstances  may  have  required,  without  affecting  the 
essentials  of  either  truth  or  order.  We  shall  proceed,  then,  to  con 
sider  the  present  constitution  of  the  Swedish  church  in  relation  to — 

1.  The  privileges  of  separate  congregations. 


APPENDICES.  655 

2.  The  royal  supremacy  and  popular  representation. 

3.  The  diocesan  consistory  and  clergy. 

1.— OF  THE  PRIVILEGES  OF   SEPARATE  CONGREGATIONS. 

The  democratic  feature — to  use  a  familiar  term — in  the  Swedish 
church  constitution,  is  the  more  or  less  frequent  meetings  of  the 
parishioners  for  various  purposes.  They  are  held  twice,  sometimes 
oftener,  in  the  course  of  the  year ;  are  presided  over  by  the  pastor ; 
and  are  summoned,  either  by  their  president,  by  the  consistory, 
of  whom  we  are  hereafter  to  treat,  or,  when  the  congregation  requires 
it,  by  the  provincial  governor.  Though  in  some  parishes  the  voices 
of  the  majority  prevail,  the  general  rule  is,  that  the  determination 
of  any  measure,  at  these  meetings,  depends  on  the  votes  of  the  land 
holders,  according  to  the  amount  of  their  taxable  property.  The 
sphere  of  business  extends  to  whatever  concerns  the  interest  and  ad 
vancement  of  the  parish  :  the  building  and  repair  of  the  church, 
parsonage,  and  school-house  ;  the  election  or  dismission  of  the  school 
master,  sexton,  organist,  and  other  inferior  officers,  such  as  the 
sixmen,  or  keepers  of  order  in  the  parish ;  the  rating  of  parochial 
contributions  ;  the  contract  for  the  salary  of  the  clergymen  ;  and, 
indeed,  not  a  few  of  those  matters,  which  would  seem  to  belong  to 
the  civil  jurisdiction,  and  of  which  the  burden  is  felt  and  regretted 
by  many  in  the  church  of  Sweden  ; — a  burden,  however,  in  part  re 
sulting  from  the  union  of  church  and  state.  At  these  parish  meet 
ings,  are  chosen  delegates  to  the  consistory,  or  council  of  advice, 
attached  to  every  congregation,  consisting  of  the  pastor  as  president, 
with  his  assistant  ministers,  if  there  be  such,  and  four,  or  at  most 
eight,  respectable  inhabitants.  Before  this  consistory,  are  tried  any 
members  of  the  congregation  accused  of  immorality,  non-attendance 
on  divine  service,  matrimonial  discord,  neglect  of  children,  and  like 
offences.  If  the  accused  be  found  guilty,  he  is  first  to  be  privately 
admonished  by  the  pastor,  and  in  case  of  non-amendment,  to  be 
brought  again  before  the  consistory  to  be  excluded  from  the  holy 
communion.  In  every  congregation,  two  of  its  members  are  annually 
chosen,  who,  in  conjunction  with  the  pastor,  are  to  have  the  care 
of  the  church  edifice,  to  keep  the  accounts  of  the  parish,  provide  the 
alms-chest,  and  supervise  in  general  all  the  outlays  of  money.  To 
these,  are  joined  two  assessors,  who,  also  under  direction  of  the 
pastor,  are  chiefly  to  attend  to  the  wants  of  the  poor  ;  while  a  third 
class,  who  may  be  termed  school  directors,  are  to  watch  over  the 
interests  of  education  in  the  parish,  and  see  that  in  their  districts 


656  APPENDICES. 

proper  schools  arc  established,  and  that  the  pupils  are  religiously 
trained. 

The  synodal  decree,  introduced  in  the  seventeenth  century  by 
bishops  Rubeck  and  Gezelius,  has  become  the  general  law  of  the  land, 
that  none  should  be  married  who  could  not  read,  or  had  not  learned 
the  catechism.  The  schools,  indeed,  of  Sweden,  are  to  be  considered 
as  a  church  communal  institution,  under  the  direction  of  the  pastors 
and  their  congregations.  The  sexton  of  the  parish  is  very  often  the 
schoolmaster  ;  the  election  being  made  by  the  congregation  ;  but  the 
voice  of  the  pastor  is  reckoned  as  equal  to  half  the  other  votes. 
The  clergy  are  expected  or  required  to  visit  these  schools,  and  to 
have  the  oversight  of  the  morals  and  religious  acquirements  both 
of  the  teachers  and  pupils. 

Upon  the  school  instruction  follows  a  preparation  for  the  rite  of 
confirmation,  which  in  Sweden  is  made  with  great  conscientiousness, 
on  the  part  of  parents.  Nor  does  the  religious  instruction  close  with 
the  rite  of  confirmation.  Preparatory  to  the  first  communion,  cate 
chetical  exrminations  are  held  before  the  whole  congregation ;  the 
bishop,  or  provost,  on  general  visitations,  taking  part  in  questioning 
those,  the  bans  of  whose  marriage  have  been  published,  on  their 
spiritual  fitness  for  such  an  engagement,  the  young  on  their  moral 
condition  of  mind,,  and  other  members  of  the  parish,  in  their 
respective  spheres,  on  their  growth  or  decline  in  grace.  To  these 
means  of  advancing  the  life  of  Christianity  in  parishes,  may  be  added 
what  are  called  house  visitations,  which,  originally  due  to  the  zeal 
of  the  clergy  themselves,  and  subsequently  sanctioned  by  law,  em 
brace,  in  each  district  of  150  persons,  the  examination  from  house  to 
house  of  the  spiritual  and  moral  estate  of  the  occupants. 

2— THE  ROYAL  SUPREMACY  AND  POPULAR  REPRESENTATION. 

It  is  not  possible  for  the  safety  of  a  state  otherwise  to  exist,  than  by 
its  having  only  one  sovereignty,  whether  that  be  sustained  by  one  per 
son,  as  in  a  monarchy,  or  by  many,  as  in  an  aristocracy  or  a  democ 
racy  ;  for  in  them,  also,  there  is  but  one  supreme  power.  It  will  fol 
low,  that  the  supreme  authority  in  a  Christian  State  belongs  to  him 
or  them  in  whom  is  that  sovereignty.  The  church  and  state  are  two 
bodies,  each  of  which,  in  things  properly  pertaining  to  it,  has  re 
ceived  a  plenary  power  from  Christ,  the  former  subject  to  the  latter 
in  this  world,  and  expecting  its  kingdom  hereafter  ;  the  latter  having 
a  temporal  dominion  begun  and  to  end  in  this  world.  There  may 
be  a  conflict,  as  before  the  age  of  Constantine,  between  the  two,  or  a 
union  in  which  it  is  possible  for  both  to  move  harmoniously  without 


APPENDICES.  657 

interfering  with  the  other ;  the  state  culminating  in  that  union  to  a 
high  degree  of  eminence  as  in  England;  or,  as  in  our  own  land,  the 
severance  of  church  and  state  may  exist  without  danger  to  either.  It 
is  not,  however,  the«part  of  this  brief  outline  of  the  Swedish  church 
constitution,  to  reflect  upon  the  abstract  blessings  or  evils  of  a  union 
of  church  and  state,  but  to  consider,  in  relation  to  it,  the  organiza 
tion  of  the  church  of  Sweden,  in  which  that  union  exists,  and  where 
that  union  is  deeply  fixed  in  the  affections  of  the  people. 

To  king  Gustavus  I.,  and  his  cotemporaries,  it  seemed  as  a 
necessary  consequence  of  the  Keibrmation,  that  the  king  should  be, 
as  in  the  neighboring  kingdom  of  England,  the  head  of  the  church. 
This  great  event  had  taken  place  under  his  guidance,  and  though  a 
few  dissatisfied  prelates  had  left  the  realm,  the  rejection  of  the 
Roman  yoke  was  welcomed  in  the  hearts  of  the  large  majority  of  his 
people.  There  is  no  doubt  that  in  practice,  as  was  the  case  with 
Henry  VIII.,  Gustavus  stretched  the  power  of  his  authority  in  the 
church  to  undue  limits ;  but  he  asserted  for  his  title  nothing  of 
supreme  episcopal  authority,  or  of  purely  spiritual  jurisdiction  ;  and, 
to  use  his  own  words,  claimed  to  be  only  "the  chief  protector  of 
Christian  belief  in  his  realm,"  an  expression  almost  identical  with 
that  of  his  grandson,  Gustavus  Adolphus,  who  claimed  the  title  of 
"  Defcnsor  et  Nutricius  Ecclcsice."  There  was  danger,  however,  of 
the  encroachment  of  the  title  and  power  of  the  king,  as  head  of  the 
church,  on  her  spiritual  jurisdiction,  and  the  Swedish  church 
apprehended,  and  sometimes  experienced  what  that  danger  involved 

It  was  a  principal  object  of  Gustavus  I.  and  all  the  princes  of  the 
house  of  "VVasa,  to  promote  and  fortify  the  union  between  the  church 
and  state ;  but  in  prosecuting  that  object,  the  first  prince  of  that 
line  desired  to  take  the  work  of  Reformation  into  his  own  hands. 
The  protestant  bishops  retained  no  small  share  of  the  reputation  and 
power  of  their  predecessors  of  the  church  of  Rome ;  and  Gustavus, 
in  order  to  break  that  power,  which  he  believed  fraught  with 
peril  to  the  interests  of  his  realm,  adopted  measures,  which,  rivalling 
those  of  Henry  VIII.,  of  England,  in  the  appointment  of  Cromwell, 
subjected  in  a  great  degree,  as  we  have  seen  in  the  foregoing  pages, 
the  spiritual  to  the  lay  element  in  church  and  state — measures 
obnoxious  to  the  sentiments  of  the  leading  reformers,  such  as  the 
archbishop  Laurentius  and  his  brother,  as  they  were  to  the 
people  in  general.  His  whole  system,  however,  in  its  oppressive 
relation  to  the  bishops,  soon  came  to  decay.  The  short  reign  of  his 
oldest  son,  the  unfortunate  Erik  XIV.,  had  little  significance  in  the 

28* 


658  .  APPENDICES. 

affairs  of  the  church.  John  the  third,  and  Charles  IX.,  the  former 
with  Roman,  and  the  latter  with  presbyterian  tendencies,  were,  like 
their  great  father,  anxious  to  maintain  that  supremacy  in  the  church 
which  might  aid  their  own  views  in  the  changes  she  was  under 
going. 

The  shrewdness-,  however,  and  watchful  care  of  archbishop 
Laurentius  Petri,  had  provided  a  church  ordinance,  to  which  he 
gained  the  consent  of  the  king,  and,  in  1572,  the  acceptance  of  the 
clergy.  This  ordinance  contains  the  rudiments  of  all  the  Swedish 
church  constitutions  of  the  present  day.  It  became  a  strong  bulwark 
against  the  attempts  of  Charles  IX.,  to  use  the  royal  supremacy  for 
the  introduction  of  his  Calvinistic  dogmas  and  presbyterian  usages. 
Against  these  attempts,  also,  he  found  arrayed  the  strong  and  vigor 
ous  hand  of  Olaus  Martini,  the  then  archbishop,  as  well  as  the 
general  voice  of  the  clergy  and  people.  The  result  of  the  contest, 
in  which  the  unusual  spectacle  was  exhibited  of  the  king  and  arch 
bishop  writing  books  against  each  other,  was,  as  it  affected  the  power 
of  the  prince  in  the  church,  the  full  recognition,  by  even  that 
imperious  monarch,  of  the  principle,  that  the  royal  claims  were 
simply  jura  circa  sacra,  and  not  jura  in  sacra,  terms,  which  in  that 
age,  as  now,  were  known  to  involve  a  material  distinction. 

This  prince  left  behind  him  a  new  source  of  contest  on  behalf  of 
the  church.  At  the  close  of  his  life,  he  had  made  mention  of  the 
establishment  of  a  high  consistory.  His  illustrious  son,  Gustavus 
Adolphus,  bequeathed  the  idea  to  his  friend  and  chancellor,  Oxen- 
stiern.  This  celebrated  statesman  devised  a  plan  for  a  Consisto- 
rium  ccclcsiasticum  generate.  The  presidency  of  this  college  was  to 
be  held  alternately  by  the  chancellor  of  the  kingdom  and  the  arch 
bishop.  To  these  were  to  be  -added  certain  assessors  of  the  laity, 
two  senators,  and  three  judges  of  the  then  highest  court  of  justice  ; 
of  the  clergy,  the  bishops  of  Strangness  and  Westeras,  and  the 
court  preacher,  the  professor  of  theolog}^  at  Upsala,  and  the  pastor 
of  the  cathedral  at  Stockholm.  The  sphere  of  activity  of  this  con 
sistory  was  to  embrace  the  whole  range  of  ecclesiastical  and  scholas 
tic  discipline.  It  was  to  have  the  oversight  of  the  bishops,  of  the 
diocesan  consistories,  of  the  clergy,  of  the  schools,  of  the  unity  of 
doctrine  and  worship,  and  the  appointment  of  suitable  pastors,  and 
be  a  court  of  appeals  in  all  questionable  cases. 

Against  the  establishment  of  such  a  Consistorium  generate  arose  a 
vigorous  remonstrance,  under  the  guidance,  on  the  part  of  the 
church,  of  Rudbeckius,  bishop  of  Westeras,  a  man  to  whom  the 


APPENDICES.  659 

church  of  Sweden  owes  many  obligations.  It  was  not  questioned 
that  the  church,  in  outward  things,  should  be  'dependent  on  the 
state.  There  was  no  desire  to  restore  the  old  hierarchy  in  its 
tyrannical  practices.  A  correspondence  to  the  presbyterian  form 
of  government  was  regarded  as  ruinous  to  the  church  of  the  Swedes  ; 
and  he  who  advanced  the  mere  congregational  or  voluntary  principle, 
would  have  been  considered  as  the  promoter  of  the  spirit  of  indiffer- 
entism.  It  was  readily  acknowledged,  that  "  the  church  should  be 
under  the  care  and  protection  of  the  king."  But  it  was  feared  that 
such  a  Consistorium  would  reduce  the  church  to  become  a  part  only 
of  the  civil  administration ;  that  she  would  thus,  in  worship,  disci 
pline,  and  the  care  of  souls,  be  made  subject  to  the  state  ;  and.  as  a 
consequence,  lose  more  and  more  of  her  spiritual  character,  while, 
as  was  maintained  on  the  part  of  the  objectors,  the  diet  of  the 
kingdom  was  itself  the  proper  Consistorium  generale,  since,  in  that 
the  clerical  estate  was  properly  and  fitly  represented. 

It  appears  from,  the  controversy  thus  elicited,  that  such  a  Consis 
torium  was  regarded  by  all  the  clergy  as  unnecessary,  unnational, 
and  dangerous.  Of  the  result  of  this  conflict,  in  the  church  law  of 
1686,  we  shall  have  further  occasion  to  treat.  .Returning,  however, 
from  this  brief  but  necessary  historical  digression,  it  may  in  general 
be  remarked  that,  in  Sweden,  a  state  church  without  an  episcopate, 
or  an  episcopate  without  a  state  church,  is  regarded  as  a  thing 
incompatible  with  the  national  weal.  The  privileges  of  the  clergy 
and  the  freedom  of  the  church,  though  culminating  in  a  royal 
supremacy,  kindred  in  many  respects  to  that  in  England,  are  secured 
by  the  coronation  oath  of  the  kings,  and  by  various  laws  extending 
from  the  earliest  times  to  the  present.  . 

The  Swedish  church  is  closely  united,  but  is  not  amalgamated 
with  the  state,  and  has  assigned  guarantees  for  its  rights  and  free 
dom.  The  first  of  these  guarantees  is  that  by  which  the  pure 
evangelical  Lutheranism  in  faith  and  worship  is  secured.  No  other 
doctrine  is  permitted  to  be  openly  promulgated,  and  other  forms  of 
religion  are  only  tolerated  under  certain  restrictions.  The  king  and 
royal  house,  officers  of  government,  and  members  of  the  diet,  must 
be  professors  of  that  faith  according  to  the  confession  of  Augsburg 
and  the  decrees  of  the  council  of  Upsala,  in  1593.  To  the  king,  as 
visible  head  of  the  church,  appertain  indeed  high  prerogatives ;  but 
he  may  force  no  man's  conscience,  if  there  be  no  disturbance  of  the 
public  peace.  In  all  important  church  questions,  the  people,  by 
their  representatives,  take  a  part. 


660  APPENDICES. 

The  freedom  of  the  press  is  under  mild  restrictions,  offences 
against  which  are  tried  before  a  jury ;  blasphemy,  denying  the  exist 
ence  of  God  or  a  future  state,  deriding  public  worship,  the  word,  or 
the  sacraments,  being  subjects  of  punishment.  No  proselytism  from 
the  faith  of  the  national  church  is  allowed ;  and  the  law  yet  exists 
which  punishes  with  banishment  apostacy  from  the  pure  evangelical 
doctrine  ;  although  Sweden,  from  the  rooted  attachment  of  the  peo 
ple  to  their  faith,  among  other  causes,  has  been  free  from  the  evils 
of  persecution.  The  peasantry,  which  constitutes  the  most  numer 
ous  and  powerful  class  of  its  people,  have  remained  almost  untouched 
by  the  rationalism  of  modern  times ;  the  Bible,  the  writings  of 
Luther,  and  the  symbolical  books,  being  familiar  in  their  house 
holds. 

In  the  church  law  of  1686,  to  which  reference  has  "been  made,  it  is 
said,  "  that  the  oversight,  care,  and  protection  of  the  church  and 
commonalty,  are  intrusted  by  God  to  the  king."  It  is  not  under 
stood  in  Sweden,  that  by  these  expressions,  the  king  has  authority 
over  faith,  or  worship,  or  matters  purely  spiritual ;  but  only  over 
such  things  as  concern  the  church  in  her  outward  relations,  and  in 
reference  to  her  union  with  the  state.  The  "  oversight"  denotes  only 
what  has  been  termed  the  jus  inspections  scBcutaris,  the  right  of 
taking  precautions  against  a  collision  between  the  church  and  state, 
The  "protection"  includes  the  obligation  of  the  king  to  guard 
the  church  in  her  rights  and  freedom.  What  the  term  "  care"  must 
signify,  it  is  hard  to  say ;  but,  since  the  last  political  revolution  of 
Sweden,  in  1809,  limits  have  been  set  to  the  meaning,  of  which  the 
indefiniteness  was,  at  least  by  one  of  the  kings,  Charles  XI.,  abused. 

Every  year,  oftener  when  necessity  requires,  there  is  held,  in 
Sweden,  a  diet,  which  consists  of  the  four  estates,  of  the  nobles, 
clergy,  burghers,  and  peasants.  The  representatives  of  the  clergy  are 
the  archbishop  as  speaker,  all  the  bishops,  and  the  pastor  of  the 
cathedral  at  Stockholm,  by  virtue  of  their  office,  together  with  a 
certain  number  of  pastors,  chosen  by  the  diocese,  and  a  representa 
tive  from  each  of  the  two  universities.  The  king,  or  any  member  of 
the  diet,  including  the  clerical  estate,  has  the  right  of  presenting 
propositions,  which  are  to  have  a  formal  enunciation  in  one  diet,  and 
be  decided  at  the  next.  The  decision  is  made  by  a  majority  of 
voices  in  each  one  of  the  four  estates,  by  a  simple  yes  or  no,  without 
admitting  an  alteration  in  the  proposition  considered  in  the  former 
diet.  The  king  possesses  an  absolute  veto.  In  this  construction  of 
the  national  diet,  therefore,  is  seen  the  influence  of  the  popular  repre 
sentation  upon  the  church  legislation. 


APPENDICES.  661 

It  may  readily  bo  supposed  that  the  rights  of  the  kiug,  as  head  of 
the  church,  under  the  limitations  of  that  term  to  which  we  have 
referred,  have  an  administrative  direction.  All  changes  of  the  limits 
of  a  provostry  or  of  a  parish,  whether  to  enlarge,  as  was  former]}7, 
or  to  diminish,  as  is  now  more  often  the  case,  and  the  questions  not 
of  a  purely  spiritual  kind  that  occur  in  diocesan  Synods,  such  as 
the  salaries  of  the  pastors,  and  the  gravamina  brought  before  the 
consistories  for  adjudication,  are  finally  submitted  to  the  decision  of 
the  king.  His  right  to  appoint  the  archbishop  and  bishops,  as  also 
the  pastors  of  the  so-called  royal  benefices,  he  exercises  under  many 
limitations.  It  is  ruled  by  law,  and  the  king  always  chooses  one  of 
the  three  persons  presented  to  him  as  elected  by  the  majority  of 
voices  among  the  clergy,  a  choice  to  which  he  is  limited  also  in  the 
case  of  the  pastors  of  congregations,  except  in  the  royal  benefices. 

In  Sweden,  the  church  has  no  public  protection  but  that  of  the 
state,  so  that  the  representation  of  the  people  acts  not  only  as  a  state, 
but  church  representation,  or  general  synod.  The  idea  of  a  state 
church  is  therein  carried  to  its  extreme  point,  but  not  without 
counterbalances  to  preserve  the  freedom  of  the  church.  The  holding 
of  church  councils  was  practised  in  Sweden,  as  elsewhere,  before  the 
Reformation,  and  at  that  era  also.  But,  because,  at  that  time,  there 
were  important  church  questions  which  aft'ected  also  the  interests  of 
the  state,  they  were  brought  under  consideration  and  subjected  to 
the  action  of  the  diet  of  the  kingdom.  Thus  the  groundwork  of  the 
Reformation  was  laid  at  Westerns  in  1527,  at  Orebro  in  1529,  and, 
finally,  at  TJpsala  in  1593  ;  in  which  last  famous  assembly,  not  only 
the  clerical,  but  the  other  estates  were  present,  and  when  the  trans 
actions  gave  it  the  character  of  a  spiritual  synod,  the  decrees  were 
accepted  and  signed  by  all  the  estates. 

Questions  of  a  purely  ecclesiastical  character  are  previously  con 
sidered  by  the  clerical  estate,  and  it  is  seldom,  or  never,  known  that 
in  these  questions  the  other  estates  decide  contrary  to  the  will  of  the 
clerical.  As  in  England,  however,  the  acts  of  convocation  do  not, 
proprio  vigore,  bind  the  laity  without  the  consent  of  parliament ; 
neither  in  Sweden  is  the  action  of  the  clergy  a  Jaw  without  the 
assent  of  the  estates  in  diet  assembled.  It  is  proper  to  add,  that,  in 
184G,  a  project  for  a  general  synod  appeared,  which  may  result  in 
fortifying  the  strength  of  the  church.  It  is  a  prevalent  opinion  in 
Sweden,  that  a  church  representation  mixed  with  that  of  the  state, 
as  is  there  the  case,  can  hardly  be  the  proper  tribunal  to  decide,  in 
the  last  resort  upon  such  questions  as  the  liturgical  formulary  of 
the  church  book  of  hymns,  and  the  national  catechism.  The 


662  APPENDICES- 

necessary  changes  in  such  matters  have  always  been  intrusted  by 
the  king  to  eminent  churchmen,  before  being  presented  to  the  diet 
for  final  ratification  ;  and  sometimes  a  clause  is  added,  which  makes 
the  introduction  of  a  liturgical  change  dependent  upon  the  consent 
of  the  individual  congregation.  It  may  also  be  remarked,  that  in 
many  cases,  not  only  the  opinions  of  the  popular  representation  and 
the  clerical  estate,  but  also  of  the  diocesan  consistories,  are  demanded 
before  the  king  passes  his  verdict  on  church  questions ;  these  con 
sistories  being  indeed,  as  we  shall  explain  hereafter,  a  central  organ 
for  the  affairs  of  the  church.  When  a  church  question  is  special,  it 
is  referred  to  the  diocesan  consistory  to  which  it  properly  belongs  ; 
when  general,  the  united  consistories  decide  the  point.  When  a 
'a  church  question  is  presented  by  the  king  to  the  popular  represen 
tation,  or  to  the  clerical  estate,  the  opinions  of  the  consistories  are 
at  the  same  time  presented ;  when  it  is  primarily  brought  by 
either  of  those  bodies  to  the  notice  of  the  king,  he  lays  it  before  the 
consistories. 

The  royal  supremacy  is  in  many  ways  restrained  by  legal  regula 
tions,  and  is  made  subservient  to  the  popular  representation  and  the 
ecclesiastical  jurisdiction.  To  the  royal  rescript,  is  required  the 
countersign  of  the  proper  minister  to  whom  the  ecclesiastic?.!  matter 
belongs,  to  which  that  rescript  refers.  But  while  there  is  a  check 
upon  the  king,  in  this  responsibility  of  the  minister,  there  has  arisen, 
in  Sweden  an  apprehension,  lest  this  very  responsibility  should,  in 
case  of  a  conflict  between  church  and  state,  result  in  a  dominancy 
of  the  former  over  the  latter ;  a  result,  however,  of  which,  as  no 
such  conflict  has  yet  occurred,  prudence  forbids  the  anticipation. 
Out.  of  this  union  between  the  two,  says  professor  Knos,  grows  "  the 
principle  of  the  church  legislation  and  administration,  not  according 
to  the  presbyterian  theory  of  a  self-ruling  of  the  church,  so  that  only 
a  veto  is  reserved  to  the  state,  but  according  to  the  principles  of 
Lutheran  protestantism,  or,  so  to  speak,  the  protestant  episcopal 
system  managed  conjointly  by  the  state  and  church  in  all  weighty 
questions.  We  here  find  the  popular  element  acting  in  a  higher  and 
lower  sphere :  in  the  latter,  in  the  single  congregation ;  in  the 
former,  as  embracing  and  uniting  the  whole.  The  union  of  the  two," 
concludes  this  author,  "  not  interfering  with  each  other,  but  promo 
ting  each  other's  aims  in  the  temporal  and,  above  all,  spiritual  welfare 
of  the  people,  is  perhaps  the  highest  reach  of  humanitj'.  The 
dangers  we  do  not  deny ;  but  in  what  that  is  human  are  there  not 
difficulties,  for  the  conquest  of  which  we  must  rely  on  the  Eye  that 
watches  and  the  Arm  that  protects  his  church." 


APPENDICES.  663 

3.—OF    THE   DIOCESAN   CONSISTORIAL   CONSTITUTION   AND    THE   DIO 
CESAN   CLERGY. 

The  division  of  the  country  into  dioceses,  the  episcopacy,  the 
chapters,  with  the  whole  organization  of  congregations  and  the 
clergy  placed  in  them,  the  Reformation  found  already  existing,  and 
the  popular  resistance  was  effectually  raised  against  attempted 
changes,  except  such  as  protestantism  made  unavoidable  in  liturgical 
forms,  the  election  of  bishops,  and  the  limitation  of  spiritual  juris 
diction.  The  memorable  council  of  Upsala  was  succeeded  by  the 
attempt,  as  we  have  seen,  on  the  part  of  the  state,  to  establish  a 
consistory  general  as  a  central  board  for  the  whole  church  adminis 
tration,  a  project  defeated  by  the  concurrent  disapprobation  of  the 
clergy.  In  opposition  to  this  plan  of  beurocratic  centralization, 
and,  indeed,  before  its  appearance,  there  had  arisen  in  the  church 
itself  its  own  conception  of  advancing  protestant  knowledge  and  the 
Christian  life,  in  a  diocesan  organization  resulting  in  that  which  is  at 
this  day  a  distinguishing  feature  of  the  Swedish  church. 

That  which  was  chiefly  designed  was  the  regeneration  of  the  visi 
ble  through  the  invisible  church,  and  by  the  true  means,  the  efforts 
of  the  clergy  themselves.  The  purpose  of  these  synods,  thus  restored 
to  their  annual  assembling,  was  at  the  same  time  to  obtain  a  deeper 
insight  into  the  fundamentals  of  faith,  and  an  examination  into  the 
pastoral  fidelity  of  ministers.  To  further  the  objects  of  these  synods* 
there  was,  in  1620,  created  a  gymnasium  in  every  town  where  there 
was  a  bishopric.  This  was  not  only  a  preparatory  school  for 
pi'eachers,  but  designed  for  the  promotion  of  learning  in  general,  and 
supplied  the  place  of  the  former  cathedral  school.  In  these  gym 
nasia,  the  heads  of  chapters  acted  as  readers,  and  thus  raised  the 
credit  of  the  chapters  themselves ;  while  the  controversy  on  the  pro 
posed  Consistorium  genei'ale  proved  how  unjust  was  the  charge  that 
the  opposition  of  the  bishops  originated  from  ambition,  since  at  that 
time  much  of  the  authority  of  the  bishops  passed  over  to  the  chap 
ters.  In  the  establishment  of  the  consistory,  whatever  was  not 
of  a  purely  spiritual  character  became  gradually  transferred  to  the 
proper  state  office  and  the  secular  courts.  Thus  was  the  foundation 
of  the  present  diocesan  organizaton  laid,  which,  combining  the 
episcopal  and  consistorial  constitution  with  the  establishment  of 
svnods  and  academical  preparation,  resulted  in  the  law  of  1687,  from 
which  there  has  been  little  change.  The  whole  system  aims  at  the 
promotion  of  divine  life  and  Christian  knowledge,  and  not  the  least 
promotive  of  these  aims  was  the  establishment  of  synods. 


664  APPENDICES. 

In  the  first  place  stands  the  bishop,  whose  title,  "  venerable 
father,"  sufficiently  indicates  the  relation  he  is  held  to  bear  to  his 
clergy.  Next  to  him  stand  the  most  eminent  men  of  the  diocese, 
sharing  his  cares  and  accountability,  who  form  a  consistory,  a  dioce 
san  concentration  of  Christian  ministers,  including  all  the  clergy  in 
the  wider  sense  of  the  term,  and  the  greater  part  pastors  of  distinct 
congregations,  the  sphere  of  the  consistory  being  centred  in  purely 
church  objects,  such  as  the  learning  and  behavior  of  the  clergy,  and 
through  the  gymnasium,  for  the  formation  of  suitable  preachers  of  the 
divine  word.  The  young  candidates  were  nominated  to  office  by  these 
their  ghostly  fathers,  who  afterward,  as  members  of  the  consistory,  ex 
amined  the  official  rectitude  of  their  former  pupils.  With  these  their 
overseers,  was  the  diocesan  clergy  strictly  bound  together ;  the 
younger  by  the  remembrance  of  former  relations  as  pupils,  the  older 
by  the  esteem  they  gave  these  honored  and  young  companions,  to 
assist  them  in  the  duties  of  love  and  office.  On  the  yearly  visitations 
of  the  bishop,  accompanied  by  some  members  of  the  consistory, 
these  counsels  had  a  public  organ  in  the  synods.  Through  these 
synods  was  the  bond  of  unity  still  closer  knit,  and  a  wide  field  opened 
to  pious  zeal  and  Christian  experience.  Thus  was  the  diocese  con 
stituted  as  an  organic  whole  in  a  wider  sphere,  as  the  single  congre 
gation  in  a  narrower  one  ;  while  in  the  deputies  of  the  clergy  assem 
bled  at  the  imperial  diet  came  the  united  dioceses  in  combination 
with  one  another. 

This  organization  yet  subsists  in  substance,  though  within  the  last 
few  years  it  has  undergone  some  changes.  The  diocesan  synods  are 
less  frequently  held.  The  Latin  disputations  have  ceased.  The  more 
important  church  questions  are  determined  in  the  imperial  diet,  and 
the  synods  are  chiefly  confined  to  local  regulations,  while  the  pastoral 
conferences  are  much  neglected.  Efforts,  however,  are  being  renewed 
to  restore  their  weight  and  importance  in  the  church.  Episcopal 
addresses,  like  the  charges  of  the  English  bishops,  have  again  been 
restored,  through  the  praiseworthy  zeal  of  bishop  Wingard  ;  and 
annual  synods  have  been  again  re-established  in  the  diocese  of  Skara. 
The  position  of  the  gymnasium  and  university  for  forming  candidates 
for  the  pulpit,  has  also  been  somewhat  varied.  Even  after  the  great 
Gustavus  II.  had  devoted  his  own  patrimony  to  the  revival  of  the 
university  of  Upsala,  the  formation  of  the  clergy  remained  attached 
to  the  gymnasia.  But  as  the  university  rose  in  scholarly  rank,  the 
gymnasia  were  more  or  less  reduced  to  the  class  of  preparatory 
schools ;  and,  in  1831,  a  complete  theological  census,  at  present 
under  the  direction  of  the  learned  and  accomplished  Knos,  affords 


APPENDICES.  665 

the  clerical  students  of  that  institution  advantages  equal  to  the 
highest  schools  of  Europe.  In  consequence  of  an  address  from  the 
representatives  of  the  people  (against  which  the  clerical  order 
protested),  the  whole  school  discipline  has  become  changed,  in  so  far 
that  every  gymnasium  is  now  joined  with  the  elementary  schools, 
theological  training  being  comparatively  disregarded  to  make  room 
for  other  scientific  studies.  The  effect  on  the  church,  it  is  feared, 
will  not  be  favorable,  although  the  royal  rescript,  in  1849,  is  in 
general  terms.  Yearly  free  diocesan  pastoral  conferences,  and  the 
reintroduction  of  general  synods,  are  demanded  by  the  almost  univer 
sal  voice  of  the  Swedish  churchmen. 

Each  diocese  of  Sweden  is  to  be  considered  as  an  independent 
member  of  the  church  of  the  land,  co-ordinate  with  other  dioceses, 
and  subordinate  to  the  king,  in  the  manner  which  has  been  described. 
No  metropolitical  power  belongs  to  the  archbishop.  He  is  only  as 
primus  inter  pares,  and  the  other  bishops  are  not  subject  to  him  as 
suffragans.  He  acts,  however,  as  their  speaker  at  the  diet,  and  the 
right  belongs  to  him  of  consecrating  the  other  bishops — this  right 
being  transferable  in  particular  cases  to  others  of  the  episcopal 
order.  The  old  dioceses  of  Sweden  were  in  number  seven,  but  by 
the  division  of  the  larger  dioceses  there  are  now  twelve.  The  capital, 
though  belonging  to  the  archdiocese  of  Upsala,  is  almost  a  separate 
diocese,  and  is  governed  by  a  special  consistory. 

At  the  head  of  each  diocese  is  the  bishop,  whom  the  king,  after 
election,  as  has  been  said,  by  the  clergy,  appoints  to  the  office.  The 
yet  current  church  law  of  the  kingdom  requires,  that  consecration 
not  only  to  the  episcopal  but  the  clerical  office,  must  be  altogether 
performed  by  a  bishop.  He  has,  in  his  diocese,  the  general  super 
vision  over  sound  doctrine  and  discipline,  holds  visitations  either 
in  person  or  by  a  delegate,  announces  the  meeting  of  diocesan  synods, 
and,  with  the  provincial  governor,  superintends  the  conduct  of 
schools  and  the  due  administration  of  church  property.  He*also 
presides  in  the  consistory,  where  the  voice  of  the  majority  decides 
many  points  of  church  discipline  and  ecclesiastical  jurisdiction. 

The  diocesan  consistories,  or  as  it  is  yet  usual,  according  to  old 
custom,  to  name  them,  the  chapters,  were  formed  of  the  bishop  as 
president,  the  provost  as  secretary,  and  six  gymnasial  teachers  as 
assessors.  The  assessors  were  named,  partly  by  the  king,  partly  by 
the  consistories.  The  majority  were  to  be  always  of  the  clerical 
order,  having  a  right  there  to  sit.  By  the  consistories  matrimonial 
causes  and  the  offences  of  the  clergy  are  tried  and  adjudged,  but  there 
is  an  appeal  to  the  civil  court,  which,  however,  only  declares  what 


666  APPENDICES. 

is  the  punishment  assigned  to  the  offence  by  law,  the  consistory 
itself  carrying  that  punishment  into  execution. 

The  peculiar  position  of  the  Swedish  consistories  may  perhaps  be 
conceived,  by  considering  them  partly  as  a  diocesan  representation 
of  the  church,  partly  as  a  diocesan  church  bureau.  In  the  former 
capacity,  \vhea  they  proceed  to  censure,  and  the  warnings  are  fruit 
less,  excommunication  is  pronounced.  In  regard  to  the  clerical 
office,  to  the  consistory,  in  connection  with  the  bishop,  appertain  the 
two  examinations  required  for  the  assumption  by  the  candidate  of 
the  pastoral  charge,  as  also  the  appointment  to  vacant  congregations, 
except  in  some  special  instances,  as  where  the  rights  of  the  patron 
or  the  crown  are  concerned.  So  intimate  in  Sweden  is  the  alliance 
between  the  church  and  schools,  that  the  office  of  schoolmaster  is 
considered  kindred  to  the  clerical,  and  he  has,  when  ordained,  a  title 
to  promotion  through  the  consistory,  the' bishop,  as  Ephorus  of  the 
school,  having  a  double  voice.  In  its  capacity  as  a  clerical  bureau, 
the  consistory  carries  the  sentences  of  the  diocesan  synods  to  the 
king,  in  cases  which  require  his  sanction,  and  has,  in  general,  the 
management  of  funds  for  pious  purposes,  of  local  church  ordinances, 
and  such  matters  of  even  a  civil  complexion,  as  the  tables  of  nativi 
ties  and  deaths. 

The  diocesan  clergy  are  under  the  inspection  of  the  bishop  and 
consistory,  exercised  in  every  provostship  by  the  provost,  who  makes 
visitations  according  to  a  rotation  ruled  by  the  bishop,  and  who 
almost  always  conducts  the  installation  of  parsons  in  their  parishes. 
He  presides  at  the  elections  of  bishops  and  in  those  of  the  clergy  to 
the  imperial  diet. 

The  division  of  Sweden  into  benefices  and  parishes  is  of  early 
origin,  and,  from  the  sparseness  of  population,  the  jurisdiction  of  the 
parson  or  pastor  varied  from  1700  to  400  souls.  A  law  of  1851  has 
sought  to  remedy  the  evil  of  too  widely  extended  parishes,  but  soon 
after  the  Reformation  it  was  found  necessary  to  appoint  in  the  larger 
benefices  comministers  or  capellans,  sometimes  called  deacons,  who, 
by  the  law  of  1633,  were  to  live  in  the  sexton's  house,  and  have  a 
fixed  salary  from  the  parson  and  congregation.  Here  they  learned 
and  were  exercised,  after  ordination,  in  the  various  duties  of  the 
pastoral  office,  till  they  were  fitted  to  fill  the  benefices  to  which  they 
were  sure  to  be  appointed. 

The  right  of  vocation  to  the  preacher's  office,  belongs,  in  every 
diocese,  to  the  consistory,  but  of  ordination  to  the  bishop  only,  as 
is  explicitly  said  in  the  ordination  formulary,  "  by  virtue  of  the 
authority  which  is  committed  to  him  by  God."  The  person  ordained, 


APPENDICES.  667 

at  the  time  of  laying  on  of  hands,  solemnly  declares,  that  he  will 
preach  na  other  doctrine  than  that  contained  in  Holy  Scripture,  as 
expressed  in  the  Apostles',  Nicene,  and  Athanasian  creeds,  and  in  the 
Augsburgh  confession  of  1530,  as  it  was  received  by  the  council  of 
Upsala,  in  1593,  and  as  it  is  explained  in  the  Book  of  Concord. 

The  revenues  of  the  clergy  are  derived  from  the  parsonage  and 
tithes.  At  the  Reformation  the  parsons  retained  a  third  of  the 
tithes,  the  other  two  thirds  being  diverted  to  the  uses  of  the  crown. 
This  tertial  tithe  is  still  the  chief  revenue  of  the  clergy,  and  is  of 
all  species  of  grain,  and  cattle,  and  produce  of  the  mines.  In  towns 
the  salaries  are  raised  from  free  gifts,  and  from  subscriptions  by 
means  of  books  circulated  among  the  congregations.  The  duty  of 
residence  is  enforced,  and  pluralities  are  not  allowed.  The  parson 
enters  his  benefice  on  the  first  of  May,  and  his  heirs  keep  the  rev 
enues  till  the  May  ensuing. 

From  this  brief,  and  it  is  to  be  confessed,  bald  outline  of  the 
Swedish  'church  constitution,  its  principal  features  may,  however, 
be  easily  discerned.  Did  we  not  know  the  contrary,  we  might  be 
led  to  suppose  that  the  Church  of  England  and  the  Protestant  Epis 
copal  Church  of  the  United  States  had  combinedly  furnished  the 
leading  characteristics  of  this  church  of  the  north.  Government,  in 
church  and  state,  being  both  of  divine  origin,  may  exist  in  either, 
with  or  without  connection.  In  connection,  the  one  may  overbear 
the  other,  as,  during  the  culminating  power  of  the  papacy,  the 
church  usurped  many  of  the  prerogatives  of  the  state,  and  as  in  the 
earlier  periods  of  the  Reformation,  and  subsequently,  the  state,  both 
in  England  and  Sweden,  has  intrenched  on  the  rights  of  the  church. 
In  neither  of  these  countries,  however,  has  what  is  termed  the  royal 
supremacy  assailed  the  purely  spiritual  jurisdiction  of  the  church. 
It  lias  never,  in  Sweden,  adventured  into  the  realm  of  the  sacramental 
ordinances,  or  assumed  to  itself  the  ordination,  the  spiritual  com 
mission  of  the  ministers  of  the  church,  in  any  of  their  sacerdotal 
functions.  This  power  is  reserved  to  the  bishop,  who,  in  Sweden, 
as  in  the  far  larger  portion  of  Christendom,  since,  and  without  ex 
ception  in  all  parts  of  the  world  professing  the  name  of  Christ, 
before  the  Reformation,  derives  that  power  from  those  who  possessed 
it  by  succession  from  the  days  of  the  Apostles.  This  principle  is 
maintained  as  a  matter  of  fact,  though  the  church  of  Sweden  has 
not  authoritatively  pronounced  on  the  invalidity  of  orders  otherwise 
derived,  or  on  the  schismatical  character  of  Christian  bodies  whose 
sacraments  are  by  other  channels  administered  ;  and  it  must  be  con 
fessed  that  the  sentiment  and  feeling  both  of  clergy  and  laity  is  loose 


668  APPENDICES. 

and  comparatively  indifferent  to  the  doctrinal  view,  in  regard  to  a 
possession,  which  they  have,  howevei',  in  reality  strictly  observed. 
The  clerical  order  in  Sweden  retains  much  of  its  ancient  weight,  by 
forming  a  special  estate  at  the  imperial  diet,  more  in  accordance  with 
the  principle  devised  by  -the  first  Edward  of  England,  than  that  of 
the  British  parliament,  where  the  bishops  form,  as  barons,  a  part 
of  the  house  of  lords,  and  where  the  restrained  voice  of  the  church 
speaks  through  her  convocations.  The  consistories  of  Sweden  may 
be  compared  to  the  standing  committees  of  the  church  in  the  United 
States,  and  her  parochial  organization  resembles  that  of  parishes  in. 
our  land,  while  the  intimate  alliance  between  the  scholastic  and 
academical  system  is  far  greater  in  Sweden  than  either  here  or  in 
Great  Britain.  A  liturgy,  compiled  from  the  most  ancient,  as  is  our 
own,  with  the  addition  of  like  offices  for  special  occasions,  protects 
the  Swedish  church  from  innovations  upon  faith,  of  the  individual 
mind.  In  a  word,  the  claims  of  the  church  of  Sweden,  as  a  legiti 
mate  branch  of  the  catholic  church  of  Christ,  repose  on  her  full 
acceptance  and  maintenance  of  the  catholic  creeds  acknowledged 
always,  everywhere,  and  by  all,  as  expressed  in  the  Nicene,  and  in 
her  possession  of  the  sacerdotal  power,  as  bequeathed  from  the  apos 
tolic  times,  in  the  commission  of  our  Lord.  Her  faith  in  the  Augs- 
burgh  confession,  avouches  her  protestant  character  in  the  modern 
sense  of  the  term — for  the  catholic  church  is  necessarily  protestant 
against  all  error — as  disclaiming  the  mediaeval  corruptions  of  the 
church  of  Rome  ;  while  the  debt  of  gratitude  is  yet  to  be  repaid  to 
her  gallant  people,  for  the  martyr  blood,  shed  by  the  bravest  of  her 
sons  and  the  noblest  of  her  kings,  on  the  plains  of  Germany  and  the 
field  of  Lutzen,  in  the  cause  of  evangelical  truth. 


FINIS. 


14  DAY  USE 

RETUMj.  TO  DESK»FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 

iw  $m*  DEPT- 

This»Dodk  ifccroe'dtrtne-last  date  stamped  below,  or 

on  the  date  to  which  renewed. 
Renewed  books  are  subject  to  immediate  recall. 


N  2  5  1975  25 


utt    o  iy w 

RECEIVED  BY 


DEC  -62004 


NOV  ^  8 


CIRCULATION  DEPT. 


2  h  1994 





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